The Cult Of Ender
by SteakEater96
Summary: The adventures of a boy named Ricky, who has just spawned into a new world, but has been attacked by a group of cultists. Ricky then aims to eliminate the cult with the assistance of a mysterious girl in the hopes of saving minecraft from destruction.
1. Chapter 1: The First Day

Chapter 1: The First Day

Ricky looked around. "This isn't too bad," he says. He is standing in a big clearing, the floor grassy and with the odd patch of dirt. Ricky looks into the air and notices the sun was moving across the sky slowly. "I'd say it's just about morning," Ricky mumbled to himself. He started punching a tree that happened to be nearby. After cutting down this tree, he decided it would be a good idea to get a workbench and some wooden tools.

Ricky had made four wooden planks and had fashioned them into a work bench. He then created several wooden planks and sticks, but left one wooden log. Ricky looked up and noticed the sun was indicating that it was around midday so he set to making shelter. He didn't like the idea of being holed up underground so he got to work. He began making a shack, an eight by eight square which he raised up by four blocks. He then knocked out two blocks of wood from the front of his new home and then walked into his shack. He put his workbench down and exited his shack. He decided he should try to get more resources before the day ended.

He got to cutting down more trees. He had cut down about nine trees before he had noticed that he was getting hungry. He turned around and found a pig in front of him. Ricky looked down at it. He pulled out a wooden sword. The pig just looked at the sword. It slowly backed away. Ricky started beating the pig with his newly crafted wooden sword. It was only a matter of seconds until it died. Ricky leant over and picked up the porkchop which the pig had dropped after it's body had disappeared with a cloud of smoke.

The day had started drawing to a close, and Ricky had realised that he had barely done much. He had only made a workbench, made one of each wooden tool and a sword and obtained a porkchop. He needed a chest, bed and furnace before he went stow away for the night. Ricky kept a mental note as to where his badly made shack was and started walking. He had eventually came across a mine but he had noticed a village in the distance. Debating whether he should go to the village, he looked around. It was getting dark, and he had no means of resting for the night so he walked onwards into the mine.

He started mining cobblestone, that's all he would have needed for that day from the mine. After getting twenty seven blocks of cobblestone he decided to move back to his house. He was going to have to go a night without sleep, which was a shame. His eyes were growing heavy and fatigue was catching up with him. He climbed up back to the ground. He was lucky he didn't walk into any monsters on his way up. That was good, he was far from prepared to take any monsters on. This was getting bad, Ricky was getting faint. He hadn't eaten all day. He poked his head out of the mine. Monsters were everywhere. Looking around, he found a perfect route to sprint through. "3..." Ricky started climbing out of the mine. "2..." He had just got out of the mine. "1..." He was ready to dash. He had suddenly bolted. He had dodged every monster that had threatened to hurt him.

He hadn't expected what happened next, he fell, an arrow had pierced his leg. He began to crawl, not wanting to die. He wanted to shout help, but he knew there was no point, no one could have been around, but then again, he hadn't noticed any skeletons, so who shot him. He turned around and what he saw was something he couldn't believe. The village he was going to go to had been set alight. And walking towards him were five humans. Two females, Three males. They all had black robes on, concealing their faces, with hoods, the only reason he could tell their genders were due to their bodies and frames. Ricky struggled to crawl. "What are you doing?" One of them said, it was one of the males. He pulled down his hood and revealed a face that was half burnt, and a diamond helmet on his head. He pulled out a diamond sword and pointed it at Ricky. The other four just chuckled. Ricky closed his eyes, scared. More footsteps were heard behind him. "Leave him alone!" He heard. He opened his eyes end turned around. He saw a single girl, wearing Iron armour with a sword. She swung her sword at the man pointing the sword at Ricky, so he instinctively jumped back. She held her sword out at them. "Keep away," she said, kneeling down next to Ricky. She pulled the arrow out quickly. Ricky winced. She helped him up quickly. "Stay behind me," she whispered. Ricky was humiliated, getting caught in these circumstances but he obeyed this girl. The sun started rising. "You should hole up, or you'll burn... Again," she said, pointing her sword at the burned portion of the man's face. He scowled. "Douche..." he whispered. The five ran away and vanished. Ricky sighed. "What just happened?" He asked. The girl looked back at him and put his arm on her shoulder. "Let's get you back to your crappy shack," she said. "I'll explain when we get in, we need to fix your leg up."


	2. Chapter 2: The Second Day

Chapter 2: The Second Day

By the time Ricky had been hauled back to his shack, the night had passed and the sun had just rose. He looked around and watched zombies fall to the ground in flames. When they got to the shack, the girl had put a door into the hole Ricky had left. "You don't want anything getting in," she said. They entered the shack. Since Ricky didn't do much, the shack had a grass floor, wasn't too big and had a workbench in the corner. "You don't have a bed or anything to rest on?" She asked. Ricky shook his head,  
"no, I couldn't find any sheep, and I was in a mine getting some stone for a furnace and some stone tools." The girl sighed. "What, with no armor, food or a good weapon?" Ricky leant against a wall. "I had a raw porkchop," he said. She shook her head. "Your name, what is it?" She asked. "Ricky," he said simply, "what about you?" She looked at him. "Erela," she said. Erela went to Ricky's workbench and got to work.

She pulled out three pieces of wool. "Do you have any planks on you?" She asked. Ricky started looking through his inventory. "I have a log," he said. Erela held her hand out. "Give it here then." She made four wooden planks out of the log and used three of them with the wool to make a bed. "Here you go then, a bed, sit on it. We're going to fix your leg up." Ricky did as he was told and sat down. Erela rolled up the leg of his trousers. "It isn't that bad," she said, "it could have been a lot worse." Ricky smiled. "So I'll be okay then?" Erela nodded. "Pretty much."

After fixing Ricky's leg, Erela helped him off the bed and stood him up. "Are you okay?" She asked. Ricky nodded. "I'm hungry though, I didn't eat at all yesterday." She shook her head. "You didn't do much yesterday at all, except almost die." Ricky shrugged. "I _didn't_ die though." He made himself a furnace with the stone he had mined. He put it down against the wall. "You wouldn't happen to have any coal?" Ricky asked, knowing she had no wood. She dug through her inventory and pulled out a lump of it. "Just cook that porkchop, eat it and let's get started, we're wasting time," Erela said, getting slightly impatient.

After eating his porkchop, Ricky walked to the door. "So what are we doing, getting supplies." Erela sighed. "You seem to have completely forgot about the attack last night," she said, Ricky shook his head. "No, not at all, I just think I should make a chest, some armour, and stone tools before we even try persuing them." Erela looked at him. "You're going to pursue them?" He nodded. "So are you, I need as much help as I can get." Erela sighed. "Who said I was going to help?" She asked. "Especially someone like you who didn't think to prepare before mining." She said. Ricky sighed. "Come on, just help me out." Erela facepalmed herself. "God, okay then. Just stop doing stupid things then, okay?" Ricky nodded. "Sure."

They exited the shack. Ricky looked around. "First thing wood. I need more tools and a chest." Erela looked at him. "You grab the wood. You need armour too right?" She asked. Ricky nodded. "Yeah," he said simply. Erela nodded. "Okay then, I'm going to go into the mine to try and find you some iron and coal." Ricky smiled. "Thanks Erela." She nodded and walked off. Ricky looked around. He found about 4 cows. He quickly proceeded to kill them. He took all of the beef and leather. "Time to start cutting wood then." Ricky walked to a big jungle. He looked at all the trees which were about two by two blocks and were very high. Ricky smiled. He started getting wood. He had cut about two tress before his hatchet broke. He made himself some planks, sticks and a crafting table. After he had done, he made himself one of each stone tool. He had nine pieces of stone left.

It was now around midday. As he was walking out of the forest with his second crafting table and tools, he encountered about four spiders. He wasn't sure if they were hostile. He pulled out his wooden sword, not wanting to use his stone one until this one had broken. A spider jumped at him. Ricky jumped back and rushed back to hit it. The spider died instantly. It rushed in to beat the second, and then the third, but the forth jumped towards Ricky and bit him. Ricky flinched, but then whacked it with the sword, the spider died and the sword broke instantly. Ricky sprinted back to his shack, not wanting to get caught in another fight.

By the time he got back to his shack, night had fallen, and he saw something that had almost given him a heart attack. He didn't make direct eye contact with it which was good. It was a tall, slender creature that was coloured black and had purple eyes. Two men accompanied it. "Father Allistair?" One of them said. The other, who must have been Allistair replied. "What is it Darius?" Darius pulled his hood down. His face was half burnt. He was the man who attacked him last night. "This is the direction Erela went to, so this must be where she is taking shelter." Allistair pulled Darius' hood back up. "For the love of god, how many times have I told you too keep that hood up?" Darius sighed. "Are we burning it down then?" Ricky was shocked, he pulled out his stone sword. He was going to wait first, see if Erela would turn up. After a couple of minutes, Allistair pulled out a piece of flint. "You have the steel Darius?" Allistair asked. Darius nodded. He took Allistair's flint and started to scrape them against each other. Ricky needed to act fast. He looked directly at the Enderman. It opened it's mouth and let out a haunting scream. Ricky looked behind him and saw a lake. It went quite a ways and had a fast current. The Enderman was dashing at Ricky. He panicked and jumped into the lake. The Enderman followed him in, only to be damaged by the water. The Enderman had died. Erela was walking back, she ran over to Ricky and fished him out. "What are you playing at?" He looked at her. "There was an Enderman, and the guy from last night is trying to burn down our shelter." She looked over and saw Darius, trying to burn the shack. "Damn, they are cultists then," Erela whispered. "Cultists?" Ricky asked. "I'll explain in a while." She whispered. "Hey!" She yelled. The two looked at Erela and Ricky. Ricky pulled out his stone sword and Erela drew her iron sword.

"Darius, don't humiliate yourself again, kill them!" Allistair said, with a smirk visible from inside his hood. Darius pulled out a diamond sword and pulled down his hood. He dashed at Ricky first. Ricky dodged and then sliced at his legs. Ricky had missed. Erela ran up to Darius and sliced the back of his legs, so he fell, grabbed his arm, pulled him towards her and then stabbed him in the stomach. Darius just groaned and then went limp. He was dead. He had been killed in seconds. Ricky was shocked, expecting a drawn out battle, but it was quick. Allistair stepped back. "Do you know who you're messing with?" Allistair yelled. Erela smiled. "I do, the cult of the Ender." Ricky shook his head. Allistair laughed. "You haven't told him who we are yet?" He said. "We'll leave you be for now, but when we come back, you'll know what you've just got yourself into." Allistair vanished. Ricky and Erela put their swords away and then walked into the shack. Erela looked at Ricky. "Planks please," she said. Ricky pulled out three planks and gave them to Erela. She made a bed and put it on the other side of the shack. "Sleep," she said. Ricky looked at her. "Not until you explain about the cult," he said. Erela said "I'll tell you in the mor-"  
"No, you'll tell me now," he interrupted. She sighed. "They are an evil cult, they're residing within a stronghold somewhere. They are aiming to go to The End." Ricky looked confused. "The End?" She nodded. "It's a dimension in which Endermen reside, along with an Enderdragon. The cult seems to hold some relation to Ender-creatures, meaning they won't be attacked by Endermen or anything like that. I think they want to lure them all into here to do something with them. I don't know. Probably going to destroy everything but regardless, they're dangerous, we need to get rid of them." Ricky nodded. "I see..." Erela lay on her bed. "Now sleep, we don't want you getting two nights with no rest."

*NOTICE!  
This fan fiction isn't definitely going to be updated daily, I also have GCSEs to do and I have other obligations. I would also like to thank Exemia, the creator of the Kingdom Hearts fan fiction: Keeper of Hearts, she helped me with parts of this chapter and will maybe help with future chapters. Please check out her fan fictions and thanks for reading this fan fiction. The next chapter might take a couple of days, due to revision for an exam, school work, and other obligations. I'll be writing when I can though!

Hope you are enjoying this fan fiction, please review this with some constrictive criticism so I can further improve this story!


	3. Chapter 3: Real Life Scenarios

Chapter 3: Real Life Scenarios

When Ricky woke up that morning, Erela was not present. He got off of his bed and walked over to hers. He saw nothing. Ricky shrugged, thinking that she was probably looking for supplies. He walked outside and looked around. No Erela. He got out his wooden hatchet, wanting to use up his wooden tools before moving onto his stone ones. He started cutting down trees, realising he hadn't made any chests yet. After getting four logs, he walked back to his house and turned all of these logs into planks. He made two chests. He went to the corner of his room and put the chests next to each other, so they'd form a large chest. Ricky then sat on his bed and sighed. He'd only just done everything he'd intended to do on his first day. The door opened. Ricky looked at the door and Erela walked in. "Where did you go?" Ricky asked. Erela looked at him. "Mining, I needed the last of the iron for your armor, and I was hoping to find some diamonds." Ricky nodded. "So how much iron do you have then?" Ricky asked. Erela walked to the furnace and started smelting all of the ore into bars. "Enough for armour, a sword and one of each tool." Ricky smiled. "Thanks Erela," he said. Erela shrugged "it's okay," she said, still smelting. Ricky hadn't noticed before but Erela's helmet had broken. "Erela, your helmet it's-" Erela cut him off, "Don't worry, it was just another cultist, nothing too major." Ricky nodded, "okay then," he said. "Now we need to train you, I realised when you fought Darius, you aren't that good at fighting, I know you've fought animals and spiders, but they're nothing," Erela said. Ricky stood up. "Okay then, give me my sword and armor and I'll get started. Erela shook her head. "You aren't using these yet, they'll be too damaged by the time we confront any cultists, no, you're going to use this leather armour," she said, handing him the armor. Ricky put on his leather helmet, then his vest, then bottoms and finally boots. Erela looked at him. "Let's start."

Ricky grinned, he felt some sensation of power and excitement, now that he was fully armed. "So what are we going to do then?" He asked, curious as to what this training was. She shrugged. "Training doesn't help much with stuff like this, real life scenarios do so we're going into a deep mine, and we're going to survive and teach you when, how and whether you should fight." Ricky grinned. "Where's this mine then?" He asked. Erela pointed at the village that had burnt down, or at least in it's general vicinity. "It's behind there. There are also some villagers alive, rebuilding, so we should help them after we're done." Ricky nodded. "How long are we staying in this mine?" He asked. "Until we get to the bottom. Then we get back out again, but that isn't a big problem." Ricky looked at her, wondering why getting back up wouldn't be a big problem. Erela started walking. "Let's go," she said. The two of them walked over to the mine.

Ricky looked at Erela, now sort of scared. "We don't have anything to take down do we?" He said, noticing he had nothing but wooden tools and stone tools, and that Erela had his iron stuff. "And also, do you have my iron things on you?" Erela shook her head. "No, left them in your chest, and I got some things for you." Erela handed Ricky a load of steak, chicken and porkchops, a load of torches, five beds, and another set of leather armor. "Is that enough for you?" Ricky nodded. "Let's go then," Erela said, walking into the mine. Ricky followed. After about five steps, noises were emerging from the mine. Ricky ignored them, and Erela held her arm out to stop him. "There are two zombies and a creeper down there, think you can take them?" she asked. Ricky nodded. Erela moved her arm. Ricky hit the creeper and walked backwards, luring it. Ricky heard a hiss coming from the creeper. It was long and drawn out. Ricky started praying now, _Please blow up_. It approached closer to the zombies, and did so more and more. And it exploded, as soon as it reached the zombies, taking them out with it. Ricky pumped his arm in victory. Erela looked at him. "You were fighting smart?" She asked. Ricky nodded. "And I was sort of relying on luck, there was no guarantee that creeper would have blown up then." Erela shook her head. "Try not to rely on luck, it's too dangerous." Ricky shrugged. "Sorry," Erela smiled. "Don't worry, you're doing pretty good though." Ricky smiled back. "Thanks." They walked off into the mine.

The two walked down the mine, Erela falling behind every now and again for whatever reason. Ricky was starting to feel hungry. He hadn't ate in ages, so he began eating a porkchop. He still felt hungry so he ate a second, whilst waiting for Erela to catch up. He then realised why she was taking so long. She was making a minecart track. Ricky smiled "So that's why getting up isn't going to be a big problem?" He asked. Erela nodded. "Yeah," she said. She pulled out a clock. "How tired are you?" She asked Ricky. Ricky shrugged, "not very, why?" he asked. Erela smiled. "We've been down here longer than we thought, we've been down here for a full day." Ricky nodded. "Ah," he said. "So, we've been down here for literally, twenty-four hours?" He asked. Erela nodded, "Pretty much." Ricky smiled. "Let's keep go-" Ricky stopped talking. He thought he saw a black, tall, slender being in the corner of his eye. An Enderman. Ricky hated these things, there was no water. Erela looked at Ricky. "You'll have to fight one properly some day," she said. Ricky looked at the floor. He looked at Erela. "Please tell me you have a bucket of water?" He asked. Erela shook her head. She passed him her iron sword. "Stone isn't going to help at all." She put down a furnace and workbench. It appeared that she had been mining iron too. She took his helmet off and passed him an iron one. She then gave him the rest of the armour. Erela put the leather helmet on, after realising she had lost her iron one to a cultist earlier.

Ricky was now all equipped with iron gear. He pulled out Erela's sword. Erela was still crafting. She got a new diamond sword. "I found diamonds in the mine yesterday when I was out." She said. Ricky looked at his new sword. It was glowing. It must have been enchanted. Erela must have been able to tell what Ricky was thinking. "It's got a sharpness enchantment." Ricky nodded. "Cool." Ricky thought that he could probably kill it with ease. He knew iron swords did lots of damage, enough to kill an enderman with two hits, so the enchantment would probably be enough to kill it with one hit. Ricky looked at the enderman. It's mouth opened and it let out a horrifying scream, a scream that Ricky was familiar with. It didn't shake him. Ricky sliced at it's leg, but it teleported. "Where is it?" He looked around, hoping to find it. He couldn't. Erela picked up her furnace and workbench and they walked on. Ricky kept his sword out, fearing that the enderman would return. He looked at Erela. "Do you think that the enderman is with the cult?" He asked. Erela shrugged. "I don't know. It's a possibility." Ricky sighed. Cultists weren't too hard to kill, as Erela demonstrated on the second night, but in mass quantities and if they were caught off guard, god knows what they would be able to do. Ricky started shaking. Erela put her hand on his shoulder. "Calm down, there won't be many of them, three max, not many of them go down mines like that." Ricky looked at her. "What about the five that shot me?" She looked at him. "They were a specialist 'kill team' that were after me specifically, they shot you for fun I guess." Ricky looked at her. "Why didn't they kill you then. She smiled. "Like several ender-creatures, they can only live in the darkness. Direct sunlight will set them on fire." Ricky nodded. "Okay then," he said, relieved.

"Humph, three my ass." Ricky turned around, so did Erela. There was eight cultists in front of them. Ricky pulled out his sword, confident. Erela pulled out her diamond sword. Erela grinned. "You're Zuriel," she said to the leader, "I can tell by your face, I can see it vaguely uner your hood. You were damaged in an accident with an enderman who failed to obey you on your initiation. Zuriel pulled down his hood. "Yeah," he said. He had scars all over his face. He ripped his robe off, underneath was a full set of diamond armour, but without a helmet. His chest piece provided no protection to his arms, it was simply a vest. Ricky noticed that scars were all over his body. Zuriel looked at Ricky. "That enderman you startled? He wasn't with us. He was but he still isn't obeying us. Stubborn thing." Zuriel said. He looked at Ricky. Zuriel teleported up to him and gripped him by his throat. He grinned. "Before we take care of Erela, we should take care of this obstacle."

NOTICE*  
There may be another chapter uploaded today, if there isn't I apologise. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and these notices will probably be featured in every chapter now.


	4. Chapter 4: Zuriel

Chapter 4: Zuriel

"Before we take care of Erela, we should take care of this obstacle," Zuriel said, grinning. Ricky started coughing, his legs flailing trying to kick Zuriel. Erela ran up to him in an attempt to stab him. Zuriel teleported behind Erela whilst holding on to Ricky. The feel of teleporting was strange, his breath would have been instantly taken away, that's if he wasn't being strangled. Erela quickly turned around and sliced at Zuriel. He tried to teleport but Erela had hit his arm. After appearing again, Zuriel dropped Ricky and gripped his arm. "Damn!" Zuriel cried out in pain. Ricky gasped, trying to get his breath back. He looked up at Zuriel whose arm was deeply gashed. Ricky got up and ran to where he was originally and grabbed his sword. "Get him!" Zuriel shouted as he ran into the mine. The remaining seven all pulled out stone swords. Looking at their body shapes, they didn't appear to be wearing armour. "You okay there Ricky?" Erela asked.  
"I suppose," he said. He looked at the seven. Erela smiled. She ran straight to one of them and stabbed him, he died. Ricky rushed in and sliced at one cultist who blocked, and then another behind him who he hit successfully. The hit was lethal, the cultist fell, bleeding on the floor. Ricky tried his best not to look at the body, fearing that he'd get distracted and killed by his enemy. Erela lunged at another and stabbed. That was three down, four left. "Ricky, two are on you!" Erela shouted. She was right, two of them were holding swords, ready to strike. Erela was ready to take the others.

Ricky sliced one of them and missed, he then spun around and sliced at the other, who he successfully striked down. The other cultist tried to slice Ricky. Ricky spun around the cultist he had just struck and pushed him into the other. Both of them fell, and then Ricky stabbed them while they were both down. He turned around to see Erela clapping. "Congratulations, you can fight," she said. Ricky smiled.  
"What about Zuriel, we going to pursue him?" He asked.  
"Yeah, we are. He may be eighteen and one of the youngest cultists but he's the most lethal and dangerous."  
"He's Eighteen?" Ricky said, shocked.  
"Yeah, many of them are young, how old are you?" Erela asked, curious now that they were on that subject.  
"Sixteen, how about you?"  
"Seventeen, now let's go." Ricky looked at her closely.  
"Seventeen? You seem older than that." Erela nodded.  
"I know, I've been told that before." She started walking. "Now let's get Zuriel."

They carried on looking for Zuriel. Erela carried on with the minecart track as they walked. Ricky was on edge, after all, he was almost killed by this cultist, and it seemed that Ricky was his priority. Erela looked at him. "You okay Ricky?" She said.  
"Yeah, I suppose." He said with a sigh. "Are we near the end?"  
"I don't know, I haven't been down here before." They continued walking. There were barely many creatures, which was a big help. Soon they stopped and began to eat before carrying on. This went on for hours. Ricky looked at Erela. "How do we know if Zuriel hasn't teleported?" He asked Erela. Erela looked at him.  
"They can't teleport if they're mortally wounded, by the time we get there, he could have bled to death, but we need to be sure."  
"Okay then," Ricky replied.

Eventually they reached the bottom of the mine. The two pulled out their swords, looking around. "Shout if you see Zuriel," Erela whispered. Ricky nodded. After a couple of looks around they found nothing. Ricky suddenly flew forward. Zuriel was behind. He had obviously tombed himself behind a wall until they had passed. Zuriel picked Ricky back up, threw him back down and kicked him. The bottom of the mine was a wide, round-ish room. Zuriel had kicked Ricky across the room. His arm still had the deep, massive gash, but it had been bandaged. He pulled out a diamond sword which was enchanted. "It's got a sharpness enchantment, a very good one. I could kill you with one stri-" Zuriel stopped suddenly and he fell to the floor with a diamond sword stuck into his bank.  
"Shut up," Erela said. The sword wasn't in deep. Zuriel got back up. He pulled the sword from his back. Zuriel pointed one of his swords at Ricky. Ricky pointed his sword at Zuriel. "Why are you targetting me?" Ricky shouted at Zuriel. Zuriel grinned.  
"Because I just don't like the look of you." Zuriel smiled insanely. Ricky looked at Erela. Erela swung her leg up and then back down, forcing Zuriel's sword down with the drop kick. She then smashed her elbow into his shoulder. Zuriel let go of the sword and grabbed his shoulder in pain. Erela picked the sword up. It was her original sword. She swung it at Zuriel and he fell flat on the floor, dead. Erela looked for Zuriel's sword. It was not there anymore. Erela shrugged. "Let's go then Ricky," she said. She put down a powered rail and put two blocks against it. A button was put on there. Erela put a minecart down and passed one to Ricky. "Put that down when I've set off." Erela pressed the button and she rode off. Ricky put his cart onto the track and got in. He pressed the button and he was rushed up.

When they got up it was midday. Erela looked at him. "Thank god, we're done," she said. Ricky nodded.  
"Yeah..." He said. He was thinking about Zuriel, how he specifically targetted Ricky. Ricky sighed. "Erela, what we doing now?" He asked.  
"Rebuilding that village remember?" Erela said. They started walking too the village. Erela looked at Ricky. She could tell what he was thinking about. "Ricky, don't worry, he was just insane, during his initiation, there was an accident with an enderman. During his initiation, an enderman wouldn't obey him. He got a chunk of obsidian smashed against his head. The enderman did it. He struggled to control it like the cultists can normally do, so don't worry, okay? If he was sane, he would have gone straight for me before you." Ricky nodded.  
"Yeah," he just said. "Thanks for helping me though, if it weren't for you I would have been killed." Erela smiled.  
"You're a pretty good fighter now, the problem with fighting Zuriel was that he had better equipment, so don't worry." Ricky smiled.  
"Where's that village then?" Erela pointed at it's general vicinity.  
"There."

They approached the village, only to see something they didn't expect. A cultist. All the villagers were dead. The cultist held a round thing in the air. "Our tenth Eye of Ender! Two more and The End will be accessible!" Erela pulled out a sword.  
"So they didn't have all of the Ender eyes, I thought they did." Ricky looked at Erela.  
"What?"  
"In a stronghold, there is a portal to The End which can only be opened with twelve Eyes of Ender, after each eye is put into a slot, they can open the portal to The End." Erela rushed to the figure, grabbed their hood and ripped it off. The man had white, long hair, he was tall and slim. "So you're Nate?" Erela asked. The cultist nodded. "Yes." He sweeped Erela's legs, picked her up and threw her at a wall that was from an old house. "I am here looking for the last of the eyes, but killing you would serve as an advantage," he walked towards Ricky and pulled out his sword. "You'll be next..."


	5. Chapter 5: Nate and Erela

Chapter 5: Erela and Nate

"You'll be next..." Nate said. Ricky was confused as to how Nate was out in broad sunlight and not burning. Erela got up as quick as she could. She swung her sword at Nate. Nate blocked. The two of them kept trying to strike each other but they kept blocking each others hits. Ricky ran up to Nate and tried to strike him. Nate shifted aside. Ricky almost hit Erela but he stopped himself. Erela shook her head. "We aren't thinking, we're all randomly striking. Try to think before you strike," Erela said. Erela looked at Nate. "You aren't burning Nate, aren't you high up within the cult?" She said. Nate shook his head.  
"Why would I move up in the cult? Sure it has its advantages, but you can't going out in sunlight. I'd rather lack the abilities of a cultist than not being able to go out during the day. If anything, the powers are an inconvenience," Nate said. Erela looked at Nate. "So you rely purely on your own skills then?" Erela asked. Nate nodded.  
"Yeah, you know full well that I don't like using things like powers or stuff, just a sword, armor, and my own skill," Nate said, whilst striking Erela. "You should know, we've fought enough." Erela looked at him.  
"We've trained. We sparred and stuff but then you joined the Cult, why?" Erela asked. Nate sliced three times. Erela dodged two of the hits and blocked the other. Ricky shook his head. "How the hell do you know each other, I know you knew Zuriel and Darius through previous encounters and your knowledge of the cult, but you really know Nate," he said. Erela pushed Nate back and then lunged her sword into his stomach. Nate moved to the side so the sword just scraped his arm. Nate smiled. "Let's stop for a second and tell him." He said. Erela nodded.

The two of them put their swords away. Ricky did the same. Nate sighed. "Shall I tell him or do you want to?" He asked. Erela looked at Nate.  
"You tell him," she said, sitting down and putting her face into her hand. Nate looked at Ricky.  
"Me and Erela were childhood friends. When we met and became friends, Erela was six when I first met her, I was eight. We'd fight a lot, not proper fighting, play fighting, using sticks or wooden swords. We eventually got good at fighting. We became good fighters. Erela knew it, so did I. When she was thirteen, I was fifteen, I wanted to put my fighting skills to use, but of course no one would take me, because of my age and everything. Then I met someone, I think you know him very well. He did hate the look of you." Ricky looked down and then at Nate.  
"Zuri-"  
"Yeah, Zuriel," Erela interrupted. She crossed her legs and looked down, her head still resting on her hand.  
"Well, there was a fighting tournament. I joined. I fought all the way too the finals with a stone sword, and the last opponent I faced was Zuriel. He wasn't too 'with it' as he had been hit with that chunk of obsidian, so I easily beat him. He then offered me a place in the cult, telling me I could fight and be appreciated. I asked Erela to join with me but-" Nate was interrupted.  
"Why would I join the cult, and why did you even consider it after all you heard about them?" Erela yelled at Nate. Nate smiled.  
"Because I was interested. I always wanted to be a bad guy, in games me and Erela would play, I would call dibs on the bad guy, and the cult was clearly evil, so I joined. I got initiated, so the only power of the Cult that I have is the power to control endermen." Nate said smiling. Ricky pulled out his sword. Erela looked up at Ricky.  
"You wanted to be evil? Why?" Ricky asked Nate. Nate chuckled a little. He pulled out his sword.  
"Because the good guys are bound by rules, bad guys don't have any shackels at all, well not many at least." Ricky looked at Erela.  
"I'm fighting you alone, I can't stand you after this. You're evil, actively helping to open the portal to The End, and you abandoned a long time childhood friend to achieve your own ends." Ricky said, his fists clenched, rage easily visible in his eyes. Nate grinned.

Ricky made the first move. He lunged at Nate and then sliced up towards his face. Nate dodged the stab but got caught by the slice. It hit his arm. Nate smiled. "You aren't too bad," he said. Nate stabbed at Ricky, which he dodged, and then sliced five times at Ricky, in quick succession. Three of the slices were dodged, another was blocked but the other hit Ricky's torso. Ricky didn't know how much damage had been inflicted exactly, but he was in absolute agony. Ricky noticed that the night was drawing near. Ricky had an idea, all he needed to do was draw the battle out into the night and let the creatures attack Nate, but then he realised, there was the risk of Nate controlling an enderman and having it attack Ricky. Ricky withdrew that idea. He wasn't going to call Erela in, this was a fight he wanted to win on his own. The only thing Ricky could do was have a normal fight with Nate. Ricky sliced at the legs quickly. The attack couldn't be blocked. Nate fell to his knees. Ricky kicked Nate in the chest. Nate flew backwards. He didn't have his sword in his hand. He dropped it after he had been kicked. Ricky didn't want to do the wrong thing and finish him then, it would have been unfair, and he didn't think Erela would approve, he didn't want to even kill Nate. Ricky didn't want to kill any of the people he did, Darius, Zuriel and his back up, it was all to ensure that he didn't have to fight them again. Nate smiled. "Kill me then, it's not like it matters. I'll see you again soon enough anyway," he said. Ricky was confused.  
"What the hell do you mean?" He asked. Nate looked straight into Ricky's eyes.  
"Because Father Allistair revives those who he believes are good assets. I proved myself well enough to be revived." Ricky looked at Erela. Ricky did mean what he thought, he didn't want to kill anyone, but Nate had to be stopped. He needed all the Eyes of Ender taking away from him. Erela nodded. "Do it," she said, sadness in her voice. Ricky put his sword up, ready to stab him on the ground. Nate chuckled a bit. "You heard her, do it." Ricky hesitated. Nate laughed "I knew you couldn't." Nate grabbed the blade of Ricky's sword. "Let me help you a little, and don't forget, I'll be back for you, and I'll be the one killing you. The only reason I'm letting you kill me now is because I've lost, so enjoy yourself until I come back again." Nate rammed the blade into his chest and then died quickly. Ricky pulled the blade out, shakened by what just happened. He looked at Erela. She was looking at Nate. "He's going to be... back?" Erela said. Ricky looked at Nate and looked through what he had on his body. He took away three Eyes of Ender. "They're onto seven now," he said. He put the eyes away and held his hand out to Erela. "Let's just go home," he said. He felt sorry for Erela. A friend who had betrayed her was just killed in front of her, by another friend. Erela grabbed his hand and pulled herself up. She kept holding his hand.

Eventually, they got home, just as night arrived. Erela had been quiet all the way there and didn't let go of Ricky's hand. When they got in, Erela took her armour off and put it in the chest. Ricky did the same. Ricky had never been through this sort of experience before. He hadn't been betrayed, nor had he watched a friend get killed. Ricky looked at Erela, who had now sat on her bed. He never really seen Erela without her helmet before, only once, but he hadn't took much notice. He noticed her long, black hair. Ricky walked over to her and sat next to her. He was thinking what he should say to Erela, are you okay? Don't worry? Erela sighed. "Thanks for killing him. I wouldn't have been able too, and now, I've just realised what I've dragged you into. I'm sorry." Ricky shrugged.  
"Don't worry," Ricky said, walking to his bed. Erela followed him. Ricky took of his shirt after sitting on his bed, wanting to check the wound he get inflicted with in that fight. The gash wasn't deep enough to be fatal, but it was hurting regardless. Erela looked at the gash. "It's not too bad, you're pretty lucky." Ricky nodded.  
"Yeah, I know," he said. Erela pulled out a potion of healing. She gave it to Ricky.  
"Drink it, I don't want you bleeding to death on me," she said. Ricky did as he was told, and the gash started healing instantly. It was quick and near painless. Ricky put his shirt back on. Erela got off his bed and walked over to hers. "G'night," she said. Ricky nodded. "You too."

NOTICE*

This chapter has introduced a lot of new possibilities into the story, including the return of characters that have been killed, or any future characters that get killed. I'm going to try and use this rule only when neccessary. I don't want to revive every character every chapter, or kill them every chapter, because I don't want to use it to revive characters because I'm running out of characters (I'm nowhere near running out) the only reason I introduced this power of Allistair's was to explore their relationships with other characters and because I feel that they should be explored more, like Darius and Zuriel, who haven't been around too long, or have not had a lot revealed about them. I also wanted to explore Nate aswell, because he has had one of the closest relationships to Erela in their childhood. Keeping Nate around is a good way to reveal more about both Erela and Nate.


	6. Chapter 6: Returning Hazard

Chapter 6: Returning hazard.

Ricky woke up. He got out of his bed and looked at Erela's bed. She wasn't there again. He looked out of the door and he saw her standing out there. It was raining today. Ricky opened the door. "Hey, Erela!" He shouted out to her. She turned around too him. "It's pretty wet out there, want to come in?" Erela nodded and walked in. Ricky looked at her. She stood by the door. "You okay?" He asked her. She nodded. She looked at Ricky.

"When do you think we'll see Nate again?" Erela asked. Ricky shrugged.

"I don't know, but apparently we will. Why do you ask that?" Ricky asked. Erela walked to the chest and got her things out.

"Because I think as soon as he's back, he'll be gathering eyes again." She said, putting her armour on. She passed Ricky his armour. Ricky put his armour on. He pulled out his sword and opened the door.

"Where should we look?" He asked Erela. Erela looked at him.

"We're not going anywhere. We'll wait for Nate to come back and wait for him to find the next two. We'll fight him then." Erela smiled. "For now, we need more gear and followers. The cult is actually pretty influential around here. We need more than us to fight him." Ricky looked at her.

"Who'll help us?" Ricky asked. Erela walked outside into the rain.

"I think I know where we can get some help." She said as Ricky followed her out of the house. "The city where Nate and I lived. I think some people I know will help us." Ricky followed her out of the house and closed the door. He looked around. Zombies and skeletons were walking around, the rain preventing them from being set alight. Erela looked at them. "They've just appeared, they weren't here while I was outside." The two of them walked off to the city where Erela and Nate used to live.

Ricky and Erela walked with their swords drawn. Occaisionally finding a hostile mob, which they'd take down with particular ease. Ricky had clicked onto something. "Hey, Erela. How far is this city?" He asked. Erela looked back at him.

"Quite a way. It'll take about two days to get there." Ricky nodded in response.

"So, are we travelling through the night or resting?" Erela thought about this. She started collecting wood. "So we're resting in a shack for the night?" Ricky asked. Erela nodded. "I don't feel like walking to Aleira in the rain at night," she said. Ricky started collecting wood too. Ricky looked back at her.

"So the city is called Aleira?" He asked. Erela nodded. A strange sound rang out from a distance. Ricky looked around. "Erela, the hell was that?" Ricky said, panicked slightly. Erela ran to Ricky and looked behind him. "I don't know, but it resembled a laugh..."

"Meh heh heh heh..."

Erela's grip on her sword tightened. "That laugh sounded so maniacal," she said. Ricky saw a figure in front of him that disappeared quickly.

"Can the cultists stay out in the rain?" Ricky asked.

"I don't know. Endermen are weak to water so I doubt it, but then again, I've never really encountered a cultist in the rain." Erela continued to walk. Ricky followed her. They stayed close to each other. It was getting about midday. They kept hearing that laugh. Whenever thay did, Erela shivered. Ricky had gotten used to it. As they walked, they said barely anything. They eventually stopped to rest. They sat under a tree.

Erela looked at Ricky. "You hungry?" she asked. Ricky nodded. Erela passed him a porkchop. They ate and continued to sit.

"How you feeling?" Ricky asked Erela.

"Okay."

"What do you think about them laughs?"

"They sound familiar." The laugh rang out again.

"Meh heh heh heh heh heh." The laugh was louder and longer than usually. Erela shivered and shuffled closer to Ricky. Ricky looked at her.

"Stay calm Erela," he said.

"You're braver than usual," Erela said, smiling. Ricky looked at her.

"I know who it is, who's laughing," Ricky got up and turned around. Erela did the same, drawing her sword. "Come out here Zuriel!" Ricky shouted. Erela's eyes widened. A figure landed onto the ground. Ricky walked up to the hooded figure and pulled the hood down. It was Zuriel. "Allistair revived you?" Ricky asked. Zuriel nodded. He held out his arm. "Still gashed..." He looked up the road. "You're going to Aleira?" Ricky drew his sword.

"Why would I tell you?" Ricky said. Zuriel pulled out a sword.

"Because I can help you?" Zuriel said laughing. "Wait, as if I'd do that?" Zuriel pulled out a block of TNT. "I'll race you there. Though I'll be fair, I'll let you rest for the night, and I won't move." Zuriel sprinted towards Aleira. Ricky looked at Erela.

"The way Zuriel's head works is weird, he will stick to that rule," Erela said. Ricky looked at her.

"The hell? So we can rest the night and he won't move? The guy's freaking nuts!" Ricky started sprinting. Erela followed.

This continued until the day ended Erela started digging a hole in the ground. After a few minutes the hole looked like a nice room. She made wooden planks and a work bench. She then crafted a trap door and some sticks, which she then fashioned into ladders. She set them up so the trap door could be reached. She then made a furnace, made charcoal and then torches. The torches were placed around the room. Erela then sat on the floor against a wall. Ricky sat next to her. She looked over to Ricky. Ricky looked at her. "I never said thank you," he said. "About when you saved me that first day, and probably several other times when you've saved me." Erela just looked at him. "What's bringing all this up?" She asked smiling. Ricky shrugged.

"I don't know." Erela leant her head on his shoulder. "But regardless, thank you." Erela smiled.

"It's okay." Erela closed her eyes. "Let's just sleep, who knows how far Zuriel is." Ricky nodded and closed his eyes. "Night Ricky," Erela said.

"Night," Ricky replied.

NOTICE*

This update took a while, I know, and the next few probably will too. I will try to update more regularly around July, after my GCSEs are done for the year, and in which I'll probably upload many chapters in bulk during the summer holidays, so I apologize. Anyways, Zuriel is back, as insane as ever, and this is one of the first chapters that lacks a proper fight with a cultist. I will be sure to update as soon as possible. Thank you for reading this chapter and I hope for your support in the future!


	7. Chapter 7: Griefed

Chapter 7: Griefed.

Ricky woke up. Erela was still asleep, her head still resting on his shoulder. "Erela?" Ricky said, shaking her. Erela opened her eyes.

"Hm?"

"Time to go to Aleira." Erela stood up. Ricky did too. Erela opened the trap door and climbed out of the hole. Ricky followed. They started sprinting as soon as they got out. They found a road. Erela looked to the right. "Aleira is that way," she said, running. Ricky followed. It was still raining. After a while Erela stopped. "Strange, normally traders are walking up to Aleira," Ricky looked around.

"There doesn't seem to be any traders." Ricky continued to sprint. "Where do you think Zuriel is?" Ricky asked. Erela shrugged. They sped up.

After a while of running down the road, the two stopped. Bodies were scattered on the road, bloody, all had some form of sword wound. "Zuriel's beaten us?" Ricky said. Erela covered her mouth in shock. "He has..." Ricky realised something. Zuriel was able to teleport. Ricky started sprinting again. Erela saw Ricky bolt and so she followed. After a while the two reached Aleira, though it looked horrible. Piles of stone, wood and bodies were everywhere, smoke raising into the sky. It was disturbing, corpses of men, women and children were everywhere. Erela fell too her knees. A tear ran down her face. On top of the tallest building, a tower, reaching the sky, was two figures. The two figures vanished as the tower started exploding, starting from the top. The two figures appeared in front of them. One of them was Zuriel who just took his hood down. The other kept his hood up. Ricky walked up to him and ripped the hood off of his robe. It was Darius, with half of his face still burnt, but without his helmet. Half of his hair wasn't present, the other half being dark brown.

Ricky drew his sword. Erela was still knelt on the floor. Darius chuckled. "To think, a few days ago, you were talking us all out quickly, now you're home city is gone and so is everyone you know."

"Not everyone!" A figure emerged from smoke coming from the side of a building. Judging by the body figure, this person had light armour of some kind and had a blade in each hand. After the smoke had cleared, this person was about the same age as Erela and Ricky. He had leather armour on and a stone sword in each hand. Erela looked up and knew instantly who it was. "Xavier..." Erela whispered. The figure nodded. "Damn right!" Ricky drew his sword. Erela got up and drew her sword. Erela instantly rushed in and sliced at Zuriel, he instantly drew his blade and blocked. Darius drew his. Darius rushed straight to Xavier. Threw a bow and some arrows at Ricky. Ricky picked them up and drew back the string. He looked down the arrow. He aimed at Darius' leg. He shot. The arrow hit the back of Darius' leg. He fell straight over. Ricky dashed at Zuriel to help Erela.

Erela and Zuriel kept blocking each others strikes. Ricky stabbed his blade into the back of Zuriel's leg. Zuriel went down too his knees. Ricky then kneed the back of Zuriel's head. Zuriel fell onto the front side of his body. Darius was back up. He pulled the arrow from the back of his leg and went at Xavier. Xavier rushed at Darius. Darius tried to drive the arrow through Xavier's head. Xavier rolled straight past Darius. He ran out of the city. Ricky and Erela followed. After retreating to their hole, they put some dirt over the trap door to hide. They were all exhausted. Xavier put down a cake. "I found this," Xavier ate a slice of it. "If you're hungry, eat some." They all grabbed a slice. They then took a second slice. The cake had gone. Ricky had then sat down.

"I swear to god, as if they'd do that!" He shouted. Erela looked at him. Xavier did too.

"Dude, it's the cult of Ender, they do crap like that!" Xavier said. Erela sat next to Ricky. Xavier looked at the two of them. "Who's this then Erela?" Xavier asked. Erela looked at him. "He's Ricky, I found him a few days ago being attacked by Darrius and a load of other cultists." Xavier shook his head.

"You didn't kill him?"

"No, I did the day afterwards though. He was with Allistair, couldn't kill him though." Erela replied. Erela put her head in her hands. "God..." Xavier looked at her. He stayed silent, not knowing what to say.

After a while there was a knocking at the trap door and light shined through the holes in the trap door. Someone had moved the dirt. Two Eyes of Ender dropped down, and after them dropped another hooded figure. "Take them," he said. Xavier looked up.

"Nate?" He asked. The figure pulled down his hood. It was Nate. Nate looked at Erela.

"Just so you know, I was against the destruction of the city, truly." Erela took the Eyes.

"Thanks, why are you giving us the eyes?" Nate looked at her, then Ricky, then Xavier.

"Because I'm out. They promised me when I joined that they wouldn't destroy our home town, and they just did. As far as I'm concerned, my time there is done, so I took as many eyes as I could and gave them to you. I intend to join you aswell if you don't mind." Erela looked back to Ricky. Ricky stood up. He walked towards Nate and stared at him. "Why would we let you join us? You've tried to kill us just as much as Zuriel and Darius!" He shouted. Nate nodded.

"True, but I've been put through it too. After losing those Eyes, I was revived and then killed a second time. Painfully as punishment. They revived me again, of course, I'm a valuable asset. Then as further punishment, they burnt down Aleira. That went too far." Ricky nodded. "That mean you'll let me join?" Erela looked over to Ricky. Ricky nodded.

"First sign of you betraying us, we will kill you, and of course, Allistair won't be able to revive you." Nate nodded.

"Thanks, so what now? Hide in this hole? Go to base?" He asked. Erela shrugged

"We might be safe. There's four of us. We still can't take on the cult with just four people, but we can still find more people." Erela looked at Ricky. "We're starting a nice little resistance, and I think you should be in charge," she said. Ricky looked up at her.

"But you've been calling the shots." Erela smiled.

"But you could call them, possibly better than I've been. If I had killed Zuriel then, maybe that damage wouldn't have been done, or not as much, considering we still would have had Darius to worry about." Ricky shrugged.

"I think you should stay in charge." Ricky said to Erela. Erela shrugged. "You do know more about the cult, and you're the one with the initiative, considering you were going to wait for Nate and confront him after he got the eyes, and the fact that you were the one who thought of going to get allies." Xavier and Nate looked at each other. "And you're the more influential one of the group," Ricky said. Erela sighed. Xavier sighed.

"Just choose a leader, for god's sake!" He said. Nate nodded.

"Ditto." Erela looked at Ricky.

"Just be in charge, you could lead us with no problems," Erela said. Ricky sighed.

"Fine," he said. The light shining through the trap door diminished. It was night time. Ricky looked at them. "Let's just sleep for now. I really don't feel up to travelling at night with those two after us. In the morning, we go back to base."

Nate pulled out a pickaxe and made an extra room. "I'm gonna stay in here. I prefer sleeping alone." Xavier did the same. Ricky looked over at Erela.

"You aren't going to make a room?" He asked. Erela shook her head.

"No point. We're leaving tomorrow aren't we?" Ricky nodded.

"True." Ricky sat against the wall. Erela sat next to him and rested her head on his shoulder like the night before.

"Night," Erela said.

"You too," Ricky said.

"Meh heh heh heh..." 


	8. Chapter 8: Recovery and recruitment

Chapter 8: Recovery and recruitment

Ricky felt warmth radiating ahead of him, followed by the clacking of footsteps, then an insane laugh. Ricky opened his eyes. Lava had been poured into the hole.

"Ah! Crap! Get up people! Lava!" Ricky shouted. Nate and Xavier exits their room and see the lava. They edge to the ladder and see the trap door, opened. Ricky got up, Erela wasn't awake yet. Ricky shook her. "Erela! Quick!" Erela's eyes opened suddenly and saw the lava. She ran to the ladder and climbed up, followed by everyone else. Up on the surface, Zuriel and Darius were running. Ricky pulled out his bow and took aim. He shot at Zuriel's head. The shot missed by an inch. The two stopped. Darius pulled out his bow and pulled back on his string. Ricky and Xavier ran at them. Xavier swung both swords at Zuriel, which was blocked. Ricky lunged at Darius. Darius jumped back and pulled out his diamond sword. Nate ran up with his diamond sword, with Erela following behind.

Erela joined Ricky whilst Nate joined Xavier. Erela swung at Darius, he blocked this with his bow and pushed her back, then stabbed with his sword. Erela was exposed to the hit, and got hit full on in the side. Erela screamed in agony. Darius slammed his foot onto Erela and ripped his sword out viciously. Ricky, quickly ran in and sliced at Darius' back. The blade hit and sliced Darius' back open. Darius fell to the floor in a bloody lump, dead. Nate looked at Erela. "Ricky!" He threw a health potion to Ricky. Ricky caught it. He looked at Erela's side. It was bleeding badly. "Erela!" He said. She looked up at him. She took the health potion and drunk it. The wound healed, but not fully. The wound was too deep, so the wound could easily open again. Erela got up. Ricky blocked her. "Rest, we don't want the wound re-opening," Ricky said. Erela nodded and stayed down. Ricky walked up to Zuriel who had just been sliced in the leg. Ricky struck Zuriel's sword, pushed it to the ground, put his foot on it and then smashed the hilt of his sword against the side of Zuriel's head. A massive crack rung out. Zuriel collapsed into a heap. Ricky moved over to Erela. "We need to get to base quickly, Have anymore potions Nate?" Ricky asked. Nate shook his head. Ricky sighed. "We need to be careful." Ricky removed Erela's armour and stored it away. He lifted Erela up. "She's pretty light," Ricky said. Xavier shrugged,

"I've never carried her so I wouldn't know that."

They began walking. Xavier had his two stone swords drawn and Nate had his own and Erela's diamond swords. They stayed near Ricky. At about midday, the rain had stopped that was pouring for about two days. Erela's eyes opened. "What's happening? Where's my stuff?" She looked up and saw Ricky. He smiled. "Me and Nate have it all. We need to get back to base and get you fixed up." Erela sighed and rubbed her eyes.

"My side hurts," she said. Ricky looked at her bloodied shirt, which was ripped open from the blade. After a while of walking, night had fell, and the journey from the hole to the base was safe and nothing really happened. Ricky walked over to Erela's bed and placed her down. She was asleep. He looked over to Nate and Xavier. "You'll want to make beds. Ricky looked through Erela's stuff and pulled out six wool and six wooden planks and handed them to the two. They put beds down around the house. They looked at Ricky. "Mind if we make our own rooms tomorrow?" Nate asked. Ricky nodded.

"I don't mind." The two of them go to their beds and started sleeping. Ricky just sat next to Erela's bed, scared for her health. Erela's eyes opened.

"Ricky, go to sleep, I'll be okay..." She said. Ricky shook his head.

"I just can't, not while this is on my mind." Erela looked at the ceiling.

"So you're not going to sleep until I'm better?" She asked.

"I probably will, I'm just worried at the minute..." She smiled. Her hand dropped down the side of her bed. Ricky held it. Erela's eyes closed again and she went to sleep. Hours later, so did Ricky.

Ricky's eyes opened Xavier was sat in front of him. "Hey guy," Ricky said. Xavier turned around.

"Hey Ricky, we got a guest." Ricky let go of Erela's hand and stood up.

"Who is it?"

"Someone from Aleira." Ricky stood up and a man, around twenty was standing.

"You're Ricky?" He asked. Ricky nodded, rubbing his tired eyes. "You need men to fight the cult, and we need shelter for our survivors, I think we can work something out." Ricky looked at him.

"What's this then?" The man smiled.

"I'm Derek. I'll lend all my able bodies to help you fight, most of them have their own armour and weapons. In return I want shelter for my people." Ricky sighed.

"Sure, if you're willing to help with the building and if you can provide medical help for this girl here," he said, looking to Erela. Derek smiled.

"We'll start building straight away, you might be interested to know that I was the doctor at Aleira." Ricky's eyes lit up. Derek knelt next to Erela. "What happened?"

"He got stabbed in the side, I healed it with a health potion, but the wound is delicate and it could re-open," Ricky said. Derek nodded.

"Leave it to me, she'll be okay," he said. Ricky smiled.

"Thanks Derek," he said. Derek nodded.

Ricky walked out with a hatchet and began cutting trees. All of the citizens were helping, including some of the children. After a while, majority of the land was free of trees. It was midday. Ricky shouted to everyone. "Every family, focus on building a one room house! You can add more later on, for now, you just need a simple place to live!" Everyone nodded, cheered, or shouted okay. They began building. He walked into the base. The floor was now wooden and Erela was walking around. He saw two doorways leading to other rooms. He looked over to Erela. "You don't want your own room?" He asked. Erela shook her head.

"No I'm good." Derek walked in.

"She's good now," he said. Ricky looked at him.

"Thank you, they're all building their houses." Derek smiled.

"It's you we should be thanking." Ricky smiled. Derek exited the house. Ricky looked outside. Where there was previously a shack inside of a clearing, there was now a town. Ricky smiled and walked back into the base. Erela had moved her bed to the same side of the room where Ricky slept. Erela hugged Ricky. "You're doing a good job, as the leader," she said. "You've already saved a lot of people and have a big fighting force." Ricky smiled, putting his arms around Erela.

"Thanks," he said simply. She smiled.

"You're taking care of me, more than when I was taking care of you." She said. Ricky couldn't help but smile. Erela let go of Ricky. "We need the last of the eyes and then we'll have Nate take us to the stronghold, then we'll take out The End portal so they can't enter, or get out if they get in." Ricky nodded. Erela sat down on her bed. Ricky sat on his. Night had fallen. Nate and Xavier walked into the base.

"Hi," Nate said simply. Ricky nodded.

"Hey," both Ricky and Erela said.

"Everyone has set up their homes, and I've replaced all the doors with iron doors and a button to open it. Zombies aren't going to get into their house." Xavier said, removing the door from the base and placing the iron door and button. "It's night time now, I'll see you all in the morning," Nate said, walking into his room.

"Night," Xavier said.

"Night," Ricky said. Erela laid down, so did Ricky. He looked over to Erela. "Good night," he said.

"Night," she responded. 


	9. Chapter 9: Protection

Chapter 9: Protection

The sun rose. Ricky woke up and looked over to Erela's bed. It was empty. He walked outside of the house. It was nice, bright and sunny today. Erela was with a family, helping them expand their house, so did Nate, Xavier and Derek was too. The small town was slowly increasing, it may have all been wooden huts, but it was a city regardless. Ricky realized that they needed some way to control who entered the base, the last thing Ricky needed was the village burning down. "Erela! Nate! Come here please!" Ricky shouted. They approached him.

"What's up?" Nate said. Ricky pointed to a house.

"All of these houses are wood, they can burn easily, we need to protect them. I want us three to go mining for stone and iron. We're going to make a wall with some doors to control who comes in and out," Ricky said. Erela nodded.

"Good idea, shouldn't one of us stay behind to help Xavier?" She asked. Ricky shook his head.

"He'll be okay, he has fighters from the village and he's well armed. Hopefully we'll find some diamond, then we'll start upgrading everybodies weapons." Ricky looked around and saw people with diamond things already. He also saw people digging a mine out and people walking out with cobblestone, iron, coal and redstone. Ricky looked into the chest. There were several diamonds. Another person walked up with diamonds. "Where you finding all of them?" Ricky asked.

"We're strip mining, we figured we should help you out," the miner said. Ricky nodded.

"Thanks, how much stuff we got?" The miner shrugged.

"Lots?" He said, unsure. Ricky nodded.

"Enough for some swords and armour?"

"Enough for ONE sword and set of armour." He said. Ricky pulled out the diamond, cobblestone, iron and redstone.

"I'm just going to make myself some diamond gear, considering how loads of you have diamond, and a wall to protect us," Ricky said. The miner nodded.

"Sure, have fun." Ricky looked back at Erela and Nate. Erela smiled.

"They're pretty reliable," she said. Nate nodded in agreement. He gave the two loads of cobblestone.

"Would you mind starting with the wall whilst I make some diamond things and the other things we need?" Ricky asked. Erela nodded.

"We don't mind, also, Nate told me he stole diamonds from the stronghold before he left," she said. Nate nodded and passed them to Ricky.

"Make Xavier two swords and armour," he said. Ricky nodded. He went into the base.

Ricky started smelting twelve iron, whilst making two sets of diamond armour and three swords. After a few minutes, he'd finished. He made everything he had needed, levers, redstone, diamond gear and iron doors. Ricky walked out of the base and saw Xavier walking in. "Hey, guy! I have some stuff for you," he said, handing Xavier his swords and armour. Xavier smiled. "Thanks Rick," he said. Ricky nodded, smiling.

Ricky walked outside, still in his iron. He wanted to wear that out before he used his diamond. The wall had progressed quickly. Erela walked up to Ricky. "The refugees just joined in with the wall," she said. Ricky looked at the wall. All of the refugees had built a giant cobblestone wall, and some had started with a glass roof. A control room was set up for people to operate the iron doors. Ricky smiled. "All these people are banding together of their own free will. It's cool to watch," he said. Erela nodded. Ricky walked up to the north side of the wall near the control room and picked out four blocks of cobblestone. He put down the iron doors and started setting up a redstone circuit to the control room, connecting them to two levers to open each door. "Sorted." Erela looked at the roof, it was midday and they had achieved so much already, because of all the aid recieved from the refugees.

A few minutes later, the roof was finished. Ricky thought about building doors on the other walls but then decided it would have been too many entrances to watch. Derek ran up to Ricky, exhausted. "About seven cultists ran past the base, cheering. Want us to pursue them?" Ricky shook his head.

"Don't worry, me, Erela and Xavier will do this," he said, looking over to Erela. Erela nodded in approval.

"I'll get Xavier, he's in the base right?" She asked.

"Yeah." Erela promptly ran to the base. Ricky walked to the iron doors, a refugee with a bow was sitting in there. Soon, Erela and Xavier walked up to Ricky, Xavier suited up in diamond gear, as was Erela. They nodded to the refugee and he opened the doors. He shortly closed them after. Ricky saw the cultists in the distance. "They're out in sunlight, any reason why?" Erela shrugged.

"Allistair might have recruited some people and this is their initiation." Erela nodded. Ricky pulled out his bow and an arrow. He pulled back and fired. He hit on in the leg. He fell. The others stopped to help him up. The three of them ran up to the cultists. Ricky drew his sword. The other six cultists drew stone swords.

"They're poorly equipped," Xavier said. Ricky saw a scabbard with an iron sword inside. They each had iron armour.

"They're actually pretty well equipped. It's a trap, they have iron gear under their robes," Ricky said. Xavier nodded. Xavier pushed two of them back.

"I'll take them two, you can decide who you two want to take on." Erela rammed her shoulder into one, grabbed another and brought him along. Ricky took the others. Looking at their body frames, one was a male, the other was a female. The girl was shivering. The man tapped her. "Calm down, he isn't too much." The girl laughed.

"I'm not scared..." she pulled down her hood. "I'm excited." Nate ran behind Ricky.

"Crap! It's her!" He whispered. "Derek gave me a description of each cultist. All of them are initiates, except for one. That girl did what I did, turned down all the powers to go out during the day, she's their guide, pretending to be an initiate. She's also a formidable opponent, worse than Darius and Zuriel." Ricky looked at her, unwavering.

"Be scared." She said. 


	10. Chapter 10: Formidable

Chapter 10: Formidable

"Be scared," she said. Ricky looked back to Nate.

"Nate, you take the other guy, I'll take this girl. What's her name?" Ricky asked. Nate looked at her.

"Lystra," he said. Lystra just grinned and ran at Ricky, swinging an iron sword at him. Ricky moved back. Ricky went to strike her, she dropped her sword, rolled behind Ricky, and smashed her fist into the back of Ricky's knee. This caused Ricky to fall backwards. Lystra caught him with one arm and slammed her elbow into Ricky's chest. Ricky cried out in pain. Nate looked back at him. He quickly finished his opponent and ran for Lystra. He swung his foot at Lystra's head, only to have it caught, and then sent to the floor. Ricky struggled back to his feet. Lystra then palmed the back of Ricky's head, taking him straight back down. Ricky was unconcious. Nate pulled out his sword and ran for Lystra's sword. Lystra ran for it too. Nate got to it first and then swung it full force at Lystra. Because she was still running she was unable to stop herself, so she got hit directly by the sword, her body got cut all the way to her chin, but it was shallow, it would have been hard to fight in that state, but she continued. Lystra clenched her knuckles and sent one fist flying straight at Nate's head. Nate blocked it and kicked her in the stomach. Blood was streaming out of Lystra's body. Lystra backed away. The other initiates were either dead or unconcious. Lystra fell to the ground. "I found... Two Eyes. The last two. They'll be attacking you with mass forces, more people like me. I hope you have a force ready..." Lystra then went limp... Dead.

A few minutes later, Ricky awoke. He saw Erela and Nate. He sat up and saw Xavier, holding the two Eyes of Ender that Lystra had found. Ricky smiled. Erela helped him up. "You're fine, your skull hasn't been broken, you haven't got any injuries that were too major, you only got knocked out due to the shock of the attack," she said. Ricky nodded, sighing. "Let's just go to base, I can't be bothered with more of this today." When they arrived at base, evening had just fell. They were allowed entry back into the base. Derek looked over at Ricky. "Ah! You're back. Nate told me about Lystra after I'd described the cultists, you know, in terms of size, figure, that sort of stuff," he said. "So did they have any eyes?"

"Two," Ricky said, holding out the eyes. "Five more and we can have Nate lead us to the stronghold." Nate looked over with a worried look on his face.

"Um..." Nate started. Ricky looked at Nate.

"What's up?"

"I sort of can't remember where the stronghold is..." Ricky facepalmed himself.

"Well the only other way there is by using eyes to guide us, but they could get broke. To get more eyes would need a..."

"Trip to the Nether," Derek interrupted. "I can have some people get some blaze powder, and you could get ender pearls later on." Ricky sighed.

"Thank god for you, thanks Derek, send them in whenever you're ready, we might be a while before we get the last eyes though." Derek nodded.

"Okay." Ricky looked at Nate. "Don't worry Nate, you were busy trying to get away. I'd probably forget." Nate nodded.

Erela walked up to Ricky. "The portal has just been made to the Nether," she said. Ricky nodded. Night had just begun. Erela looked up. "Are we sleeping tonight or helping around the base?" Erela asked. Ricky shrugged.

"Up to you," Ricky said. Erela walked to the house.

"I'm tired so I think I'll sleep," she said. Ricky nodded.

"I think I will too," he said. He walked to the base. Erela sat on her bed. Ricky laid down on his. Erela looked down at Ricky. Ricky had his hands over his face.

"You okay?" Erela asked. Erela saw Ricky nod slightly.

"Just tired," he said. Erela turned around on her bed to face him.

Xavier and Nate walked in. "We're going to sleep," they both said at once. Erela nodded.

"Night guys," she said. Nate nodded, so did Xavier. They went to their rooms. Erela looked at Ricky. "Are we going to get the cultists tomorrow?" Erela asked. Ricky shook his head. "No point, we can just make the last of the eyes and defend against them. I think we can do it." Ricky removed his hands from his face. His eyes were closed. "I feel truly tired for the first time in ages," Ricky said. Erela smiled at him.

"Why're you so tired?" She asked. Ricky shrugged. Erela nodded and laid down. "Night," Erela said.

"Yup."

Ricky woke up in the morning and Erela was sat on her bed. "Hey," Ricky said. Erela turned around. She smiled,

"Hi." Ricky sat up and Erela turned around to face Ricky.

"We going to hunt some Endermen?" She asked. Ricky shook his head.

"We're going to let them trap themselves. We need TNT and sticky pistons." Erela smiled.

"The people in the Nether came back during the night with gunpowder." Ricky looked at her confused.

"I thought you'd just got up?" Ricky asked.

"No, I got up when they got back, then went back to sleep. Also, we found slimes about as well, so we have slime balls. We have more than enough for pistons."

"Well, we have some work to do." 


	11. Chapter 11: The fire and the flames

Chapter 11: The fire and the flames.

Ricky and Erela walked outside of the base. Ricky went into the chest by the mine to get all the resources needed. Redstone, sticks, stone, wood, slimeballs, gunpowder. A man walked up to Ricky. "What you doing with all that mate?"

"We're going to kill endermen. We need this stuff to make traps," Ricky said. The man nodded.

"We have some redstone engineers that can help." Ricky smiled.

"Thanks, tell them to meet at the main doors." A few minutes later, several engineers were stood by the main iron doors. They all left the base.

"Does anyone know where endermen frequently appear?" Ricky asked. Erela nodded.

"I know an area, the light falls to a comfortable level for endermen." Ricky nodded and let Erela lead on. After arriving, Ricky explained to the engineers how these traps worked. It was very complex and only the engineers really understood what he was saying. "The block the enderman picks up goes above the piston and the redstone circuitry goes as I explained, it's hard to understand how it happens, but I think it tricks the circuitry." Erela sat down, looking for mobs or cultists.

After a day, the engineers had made a rigged pumpkin and melon field. Night fell. Ricky looked at Erela. "We need to hide so the endermen don't see us." The group made a small wooden shack and Ricky and Erela looked out of a window they had made. Endermen began to appear. They ensured not to create eye contact. The endermen began picking up the pumpkins and melons. Hissing rang out from underground. They all started looking around as the TNT underground exploded, taking endermen out with the explosion. They all started searching the craters and pulled out several ender pearls. "We should get to base," and engineer said. Ricky nodded.

"We should." The group arrived at the base. Derek walked up to them.

"The hell was that explosion?" Derek yelled. Ricky smiled.

"We just blew up some endermen." Derek looked at Ricky, shocked. Ricky and Erela went back to their house. "How many pearls do we have?" He asked Erela.

"About twenty." Ricky smiled.

"If we craft them into eyes, we'll probably be able to open the portal and track down the stronghold," Ricky said. He looked over to Erela. "This has puzzled me, should we open The End portal?" Erela shrugged.

"It's up to you, if we go in, we can take out the enderdragon and possibly lead the cult in. From there, we can destroy the portal within The End and the one outside, trapping them." Ricky nodded.

"I think that's a pretty good plan."

Erela sat on her bed. Ricky looked at her. "You're sleeping then?" Ricky asked. Erela nodded. "I will too tonight." He sat on his bed. Erela smiled at him.

"I can't believe you thought of that with the redstone," she said. "How did you know that?"

"Well, I trapped some monsters for fun when I was younger."

"You had access to TNT when you were youger?"

"No, we used slightly less harmful explosives." Erela laughed.

"As a child, I just fought with Nate, you know, with wooden swords. I did with Xavier as well, but I didn't like fighting him, he cheated." Ricky chuckled.

"How so?"

"He'd break the rules and pull out a second sword to sweep me."

"So that's why he uses two swords?"

"Yes. He accels with dual wielding, whereas I find using two swords too clumsy." Ricky nodded. The two of them laid down.

The next morning, he felt himself being shook. "Ricky," he heard whispered. He opened his eyes and saw Erela.

"Hey Erela." He got out of bed and looked at her. "What's up?"

"The Nether crew give up. They find it too dangerous in there." Ricky sighed.

"No one else will go in?"

"No." Ricky looked at Erela.

"I suppose me, you Nate and Xavier should go in. We really need this powder." Erela nodded.

"I agree." Erela walked to the door. "They have a cobblestone base with multiple rooms ready for us, the portal is inside it's own room."

"Let's go then." Just then, Xavier walked into the room. He looked at Erela, and then Ricky.

"Hey guys," he said. "I guess you heard about the men in the Nether?"

"Yeah, we're all going in, us three and Nate," Ricky said. "Get Nate and wait for us at the portal." Xavier nodded and got some things from his room before leaving. Ricky got his things, as did Erela. They went to the portal. Within an few minutes, the four of them were assembled. "Ready to go?" Ricky asked. The others nodded. They entered the portal, one at a time.

They spawned into the room that Erela mentioned. They exited the Nether base, only to see five ghasts, crying out and shooting at them. "BACK IN! BACK IN!" Ricky shouted. They all went back into the base. "We should wait until they leave." Xavier nodded.

"I'm going to stay in a room." Xavier walked to another room.

"I think I'll get a room too." Nate walked off.

"What about you Erela?" Erela looked at him. She sat against a wall.

"I'll stay here." Ricky nodded. He sat next to her. She rested her head against Ricky's shoulder. Ricky put an arm around her. Erela smiled. Erela turned to Ricky. "I want to ask you something." 


	12. Chapter 12: Awkward

Chapter 12: Awkward.

"I want to ask you something," Erela asked. Ricky looked at her.

"What is it?"

"It doesn't matter. I'll tell you later." Ricky shrugged.

"Shall we get going? I think I could plan out a route to run so we can get start looking for a fortress." Erela nodded. Ricky stood up and held his hand out to Erela. Erela took it and stood up. Nate and Xavier walked in. Erela looked at them. "Ricky's going to find a route to run through, then we'll look for a fortress," Erela said, letting go of Ricky's hand. "You ready?" She asked. The two of them nodded. Ricky looked through the door and found a route.

"Stay with me, I found a way." Erela stepped behind him, followed by Nate and Xavier. Ricky opened the door and bolted, follow by the others. Ghasts screamed as they shot fireballs, in which were deflected with the groups swords. They reached an area which was free from Ghasts and had the occasional magma slime. The slimes were took out relatively quick. Ricky looked at everyone, breathing deeply. "We all okay?" He asked. Everyone nodded. Ricky looked into the distance and saw a castle made of bricks. Ricky looked back to the others. "I've found a fortress, how much powder do we need?"

"Well we have about twenty pearls," Erela said.

"We get ten powders amd leave the rest of the pearls for teleportation." They headed towards the fortress.

After a while, the group arrived at the fortress with minimal danger. Ricky looked at Erela. "You ready?" She nodded. He looked to Xavier and Nate, they nodded. Ricky walked into the fortress, along side the rest of the party, all with swords drawn. "Shall we split up and defeat as many as we can?"

"That seems like a good idea," Nate said. Xavier shook his head.

"I say we stay in groups of two, we okay with that? I'll go with Ricky," he said. Ricky nodded in agreement. Erela approached Nate.

"You two come back here with two rods. We'll craft them into powders," Ricky said. The others nodded. "Let's go." The two groups ran to different sections of the fortress. Ricky looked to Xavier. "You okay?" Ricky asked. Xavier nodded.

"Yes." After a while of looking around, Ricky found a spawner. They quickly ran at the spawner. Blazes appeared. Ricky ran at a Blaze and quickly struck it twice. It ascended and burst into flames. It shot out several fireballs. Ricky dodged to the best of his abilities. Ricky pulled out his bow and drew it fully. He let go of the string and the arrow struck the Blaze. It died and a rod dropped to the floor. Ricky picked it up. Another fell in front of him. Xavier threw it to him. "One more, right? Then we can craft ten powders," he said. Ricky nodded.

"Yeah, basically." The last Blaze appeared. "You destroy the spawner, I'll take this one out." Ricky ran at it and sliced at it. It successfully hit. Ricky drew back his bow fully. The arrow hit. The Blaze shot fireballs. Ricky dodged them. He shot a second arrow from his fully drawn bow. The Blaze died, dropping the rod onto the roof of the Fortress. Ricky got out a pick and started taking out bricks. He eventually made the rod fall from the floor. "Here we go, let's go back to were we started," Ricky said. Ricky and Xavier met Nate and Erela at the meeting place. "We have enough, let's go quickly," Ricky said. They sprinted back to the Nether outpost. They didn't have many problems, except for the occaisonal Ghast which they evaded. After reaching the outpost, they entered the portal into the overworld.

Back at the base, Ricky looked at the glass ceiling. It was night time. The group walked to the house. Xavier and Nate went to their respective rooms. Erela sat on her bed. Ricky sat on his bed. "We did pretty well, we need to make the powders, could I have the rods?" Ricky asked. Erela passed the Blaze rods. Ricky made them into ten powders. He then got the pearls and made ten Eyes of Ender. He put them with the rest of the Eyes. Ricky sat next to Erela and looked at her. "You wanted to ask me something in the Nether, what was it?" Erela looked at him. She took a deep breath.

"I've never really asked someone this, and I don't think I know how to. So..." She leaned forward and kissed Ricky. Ricky was shocked. He closed his eyes and allowed Erela to continue. Xavier walked out of his room and into Ricky's and Erela's room. He was about to say something but stopped. Erela moved her head away from Ricky and opened her eyes. She saw Xavier and blushed, embarrassed. Ricky saw Xavier too and remained silent, his mouth semi opened. Xavier stammered a little. "H-have you made the... You know... Th-the Eyes?" Ricky nodded. Xavier nodded back and walked towards Nate's room. Ricky quickly shook his head.

"Xavier! Wait!" Xavier stopped and looked back. "Don't be a douche and tell everyone about this." Ricky said, sighing. Xavier backed away from Nate's room and back into his room, silently. After he walked into his room, Ricky and Erela heard laughing from his room. Light laughter. Erela giggled. "I guess you know what I meant by that?" She asked. Ricky nodded.

"I'm pretty sure, you... Like me?" He said, still stunned from the kiss. Erela smiled. She laid down. Ricky moved to his bed and sat down. She was still giggling a little. Ricky smiled at her. "I was going to tell you about my feelings after this thing has all done, but you beat me to it."

"You aren't disappointed are you?" She asked.

"Not at all. I'm... Happy."

She got out of her bed, walked to Ricky and put her arms around him. Ricky did the same. Nate walked into the room. "I heard laugh-" he stopped and watched them. They turned to face him. Nate just stared at them. Erela laughed again. "First Xavier, now Nate. Typical," she said jokingly. Nate nodded.

"You're... Dating?" Ricky nodded. Nate nodded back and walked into his room. All remained silent in his room. Erela went back to her bed and laid down. Ricky laid down too. "Night," Ricky said.

"Night," Erela replied. "I love you." Ricky nodded.

"I... Love you too." Ricky had never imagined saying that to anyone on that first day. The two of them were just acquaintances. Nothing more. They had grown closer and closer until now. Ricky fell to sleep. Happy. 


	13. Chapter 13: Proposition

Chapter 13: Proposition

Ricky woke up and looked over to Erela. She was still asleep. Ricky got out of bed and shook her a little. "Hey, Erela," he said softly. "Get up." Erela woke up and looked at him. "Hey," she said. She sat up. Ricky smiled at her. "What we doing today Ricky?" At that moment the door opened and Derek entered, panting.

"You okay Derek?" Ricky asked, approaching him. Derek held out a piece of paper.

"You have a letter from the cult leader," Ricky stopped, shocked. Ricky took the paper and read it aloud.

"Dear Ricky,  
I see you are now in charge of you're little group. We have a proposition regarding the Eyes of Ender. A fighting tournament. Both of our factions wager our Eyes and have a fighting tourney. This is a strange approach, we understand, but every ten years, there is a fighting tournament within Aleira. Since Aleira is now our territory, we have decided to continue this tradition. We want you to volunteer four combatants. The rules will be explained when you arrive. After entensive research and observation, we have concluded that it'll rain tomorrow (right now when you recieve this letter) so we will send Zuriel to escort you. We have made a new route that takes a day to get to Aleira. We hope you will consider this offer.

Sincerely Father Allistair."

Ricky looked at Derek. "Zuriel was outside and he gave me the letter. What do you think?" Derek asked. Ricky nodded. "We'll gain nothing from this." Zuriel entered the house. "Wrong, you get the chance to kill four cultists that Allistair will not revive." Ricky looked at Zuriel and then to Derek.

"Why the hell did you let him into the base?" Ricky shouted. Derek shook his head.

"He said he needed to talk to you in person," Derek said. Zuriel glared at Erela, and then Ricky.

"You get the chance to kill the four cultists which volunteer. If you win, Allistair says that he'll fight the winner to the death," Zuriel said, grinning. "I'd say you have a lot to gain, should you win." Ricky looked at Zuriel.

"Wait outside," he said. Zuriel nodded and walked out of the door.

During the conversation with Zuriel, Erela had got out of bed. Ricky sat back down and put his head into his hands. "What do we do Erela? We have a lot to gain if we win, but can lose just as much," Ricky said. Erela sat next to him.

"I don't know. The cult is always honest about stuff like this, they fulfill their ends of deals and bargains and follow their own rules, so it isn't a trap. We could lie about the amount of Eyes we have, I mean they don't know we've been to the Nether." Ricky looked up at Erela.

"Wager only seven Eyes... If they win they can still go to The End." Erela nodded in agreement.

"But we can follow them to the stronghold and destroy the portal. I say it'd be very beneficial." Ricky looked at her.

"Should we?" Erela nodded.

"I guess the four will be me, yourself, Nate and Xavier?" Ricky nodded.

"Might as well." Erela smiled and hugged him. Derek just looked at them.

"Are you two...?" Derek started.

"Yes, just keep it to yourself though please Derek," Ricky said. Derek nodded and left the house.

Erela let go of Ricky and Zuriel walked in. "What do you say then?" Zuriel asked.

"Do you know how many Eyes we have?" Ricky asked.

"Seven," Zuriel said. Ricky nodded. Zuriel didn't know about the trip to the Nether.

"We'll go." Ricky got seven Eyes from the chest. "We're ready."

"Get your other two fighters," Zuriel said calmly. Ricky opened Nate's door.

"Dude! Come here!" He then opened Xavier's, "Come here Xavier!" The two entered the main room. "Get your equipment, we have a proposition from Allistair." Zuriel explained everything to Nate and Xavier. The two agreed with Ricky's decision.

The group left the base and was led to Aleira. They got there just as night fell. Aleira was now a giant stone dome. Zuriel led them in. In the middle of the city wasa giant arena, the city was lit by a redstone lantern system. Zuriel looked at the four. "There is a hotel. You may stay there for the night. We have been nice and built this hotel by the edge of the dome so each of the three rooms have windows for you. Sleep there for the night. We will explain everything at the arena in the morning." Ricky nodded and the four of them entered the hotel. As always, Nate and Xavier took their own room. The third room had two beds next to each other. Ricky sat on one. Erela sat on the other. "How you feeling?" Ricky asked Erela.

"I'm feeling good." Ricky nodded to her and smiled. Erela got up and sat next to him. She put her arm around him. "How about you?"

"I'm okay." She smiled. Ricky hugged her. Erela smiled. "Confident?"

"Sort of," he said.

"I'm sort of scared. What if one of us dies?" Ricky closed his eyes.

"I don't know." Erela kissed Ricky and then went to her own bed.

"Good night," Erela said. Ricky nodded.

"Night."

"I love you."

"I love you too." The two of them fell to sleep. 


	14. Chapter 14: First rounds

Chapter 14: First rounds

"Time to get up!" Someone shouted on the other side of the door. Ricky got up and looked at Erela. She was waking up too.

"Who is it?" Ricky shouted back.

"Zuriel," the voice shouted back. "We have to explain some rules and show the tournament tree."

"Tree?" Ricky asked.

"Yeah, it's a knock-out tourney."

"Oh, okay." Ricky, Erela, Nate and Xavier made their way to the arena in the middle of the new Aleira. The arena was packed with cultists and within the actual arena stood Allistair and three other cultists. Zuriel stood with the other cultists. The resistance stood side by side. Allistair stared at them and then grinned.

"Welcome to New Aleira!" The audience of cultists cheered. "We are all here for the first fighting tournament since we've taken over! You all may be interested to know that we are continuing Aleira's Ten Year fighting tournaments! We are doing our first fight with members of our cult and the resistance!" Allistair continued to grin. Once again, the audience cheered. "As you will already know, this will be a knock out tourney! Each resistance member will fight one of our cultists! The winner will have the option to kill or spare their opponent! We will not ressurect any of our cultists! We have created as tournament tree showing who will fight whom! This is the first tier of the tree!" On a wall several blocks stuck out showing the tournament tree. The first four fights were:

-Xavier vs. Exzera -Ricky vs. Zuriel -Erela vs. Lystra -Nate vs. Darius

The groups looked at the wall. Xavier shivered a little. He looked at the cultists who would be fighting. He could easily identify them. He assumed Exzera was the smallest of them, considering it was the only cultist he didn't know. Allistair teleported onto a balcony. "Our first fight is Xavier versus Exzera!" The groups were lead to other balconies. Xavier and the cultist, Exzera, was left behind. Alistair shouted. "I understand that the resistance has not met Exzera. Exzera, please lower your hood." Exzera pulled his hood down. He had black hair, blue eyes and pale skin. "This is Exzera! He is a twelve year old who joined out cult at the age of nine! Ready yourself fighters!" Xavier looked down at Exzera. Xavier pulled out his swords. Exzera stayed still.

"You haven't got a weapon, huh?" Xavier asked Exzera. Exzera went into a fighting stance, remaining silent. Xavier stared at him. "Fight!" Automatically, Exzera drove his palm into Xavier's stomach. Exzera then rolled over Xavier and kicked him in the back of the legs. Xavier fell to his knees and then Exzera quickly sent Xavier's head to the floor. Xavier wrestled Exzera off of him. Xavier got up and sliced at Exzera. Exzera rolled backwards and then ran straight back at Xavier and quickly punched him in the face. Exzera then pulled one of Xavier's sword from his hand and then pushed Xavier onto the ground. Exzera stood above him and held Xavier's sword to his throat. Erela covered her mouth in shock. Allistair shouted, "Exzera wins! You may now deal with your opponent as you deal fit!" Exzera looked at Xavier and stared at him piercingly. Exzera walked away, still holding Xavier's sword. "Exzera chooses to spare Xa-" Allistair stopped as Exzera charged back and impaled Xavier's chest with the sword. Xavier fell limp. Allistair remained silent for a minute. "Exzera changed his mind! He slaughtered Xavier!" The cultists cheered as Erela quickly hugged turned around and grabbed Ricky. "Oh God..." Erela said, shivering. Ricky looked down at Xavier's corpse. He looked at Exzera, a twelve year old boy who remorselessly killed someone he barely knew. Ricky looked down at Erela. "Are you okay?" Ricky asked Erela. Erela shook her head. "I don't like this at all..." Ricky looked at the tournament tree as Xavier's name disappeared from it. Ricky looked at Erela. "You have to let go now, I'm up." Erela held him a little longer. "Don't die..." Erela whispered. She let go of him. Ricky nodded at Erela and he made his way to the arena. Zuriel also went to the arena.

Ricky pulled out his diamond sword. Before he had left, he changed to his diamond armour. Zuriel grinned and pulled out his sword. Ricky shivered. "I just don't like the look of you," Zuriel said. Ricky chuckled.

"Ditto."

"FIGHT!" Allistair shouted. Zuriel quickly charged in and sliced at Ricky. He blocked and then swung his sword at Zuriel's leg. He hit and Zuriel went straight down. Ricky stabbed at Zuriel but he quickly stumbled back so Ricky missed. Zuriel kicked himelf back up and attempted to disarm Ricky. He quickly moved and came straight back and struck Zuriel down to the ground. Zuriel struggled to get up and stumbled back to the ground. Ricky sliced at Zuriel's chest. Allistair shouted out. "Ricky wins! He may do as he wishes to his opponent!" Zuriel shook his head.

"Don't, please." Ricky quickly put his blade through Zuriel. Ricky went straight to the balcony, as Allistair shouted,

"Zuriel has been killed by Ricky!" And the audience began to boo. When he got to the balcony, Erela hugged him.

"I'm next..." Erela whispered. "I'm against Lystra." Ricky held her.

"You'll be fine." Erela nodded. She let go of Ricky, and he did the same. Erela walked to the Arena as Lystra teleported down. Allistair grinned.

"Next fight! Erela versus Lystra!" Erela pulled out her sword. Lystra ran straight at Erela before Allistair could start the fight. Erela dodged and hacked the back of Lystra's legs. She fell to her knees. She quickly got up, turned around and punched Erela square in the face. She then pulled out her sword and stabbed at Erela. Erela couldn't dodge and got a blade to her side. Erela quickly sliced at Lystra. She hit Lystra's stomach. Erela quickly went behind Lystra and smashed her foot into the back of Lystra's knees. Lystra fell to her knees. Erela swung her sword down at Lystra's head. "Lystra is dead! Erela wins!" Allistair shouted. Erela walked straight to the balcony, ignoring the audience's mix of booing and cheering. After arriving at the balcony, she shook her head. Ricky looked at her. "Are you okay?" He asked. She shook her head. "I've never killed anyone like that. It was horrible." Ricky hugged her.

"I don't like this..." She said. Ricky nodded.

"We didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into. Zuriel was an obvious, Darius was a maybe, Lystra we barely know, and that kid, Exzera? He's mad..." Erela looked over at Nate. Nate pulled out his sword and walked to the arena. So did Darius.

Darius smiled. "I'm pretty excited. We were pretty big rivals when you were in the cult. I'm happy to have the chance to fight you," Darius said. "And kill you..." Nate kept a straight face. "Kill me?" Nate approached Darius. "As if." Darius drew his sword. He laughed.

"I've been waiting for this..."

"FIGHT!" Allistair shouted.


	15. Chapter 15: Mercy

Chapter 15: Mercy

"FIGHT!" Allistair shouted. Darius ran at Nate. Nate blocked and kicked Darius back. Ricky quickly followed up with an upwards slice. Darius shifted back. Nate smashed his foot into Darius' knee. Darius fell to the ground. Nate went to stab Darius. Darius quickly recovered, blocked and sliced upward at Nate. Nate's chest got the full impact of the slash. He began to bleed. Erela leaned over the balcony and shouted, "Nate! Just Stop!" Nate shook his head, looking determined at Darius. He got up and slashed repeatedly. Most of them were blocked but some of them hit Darius. Darius punched Nate in the face, pushed him back, and threw his sword at Nate. The sword hit Nate. It entered the right side of Nate's chest. He was pinned to the ground. He tried to remove the sword. Darius punched him in the face and held the sword in place. He continued to punch Nate. Erela shook her head. "Stop!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. The audience, Allistair, Darius and Nate stared at Erela. Ricky stepped forward. "Darius!" He shouted.

"What?"

"If Nate forfeits, will you spare him?"

"How will that benefit me?" Darius asked. Ricky hesitated. Darius laughed. "Fine." Darius yanked his sword from Nate. Nate lay still on the ground, breathing heavily.

"H-help me..." Nate whispered, as his blood made a puddle on the ground. Ricky and Erela ran to Nate and turned him over, onto his back. Erela opened up Nate's robe, showing the deep gash. She pulled out a healing potion. She gave it to Nate. He drank it quickly. The wound began to heal, but not much. The wound was fragile and the slightest stress would open the wound.

Allistair looked down. "We'll call it a day now! Two resistance members and two of our cultists have made it through. Dead include Xavier, Zuriel, Lystra and soon to be Na-" he was cut off.

"Shut up!" Erela shouted. Allistair stayed quiet.

"You know Erela, I hope you win, I'd get a real kick out of killing you." Erela clenched her fist. Ricky lifted Nate up carefully.

"C'mon Erela..." Ricky whispered. Erela nodded, clenching her fists. The group walked to the hotel. When they walked in, the man watching the place chuckled. Erela shook her head. After going to their room, they found it was night time. "Take me to my room please..." Nate said, weakly. Ricky nodded and did so.

"Shout if you need me..." Ricky said. Nate nodded. Ricky walked back to the room.

Erela was sat on the bed with her head in her hands. Ricky sat next to her. "You okay?" Ricky asked. Erela shook her head. She lifted her head up. It was red, tears running down her cheeks. "He's dead. Xavier. Nate nearly died too. They're my childhood friends." Ricky put his arm around her. Erela put her arms around him and continued to cry.

Ricky woke up. He was in Erela's bed, with Erela in his arms, her head on his chest. He tapped her shoulder. "Erela?" He whispered. Erela opened her eyes. They were red, as was her face. She tried to put on a smile. Ricky looked at her. He sat up. She did too. "I'm going to get washed up..." Erela said, walking to the bathroom. Ricky nodded and walked to Nate's room. Nate laid there, still breathing. "You okay there?" Ricky asked. Nate sat up and nodded.

"Yeah, I've recovered pretty good. When do we have to go to the arena?" Nate asked.

"We'll probably go when Erela's finished. Are you coming as well?" Nate nodded.

"Yes, I'd like to." Ricky smiled. Nate got out of his bed.

"Let's go to my room and wait for Erela." The two of them walked to the room and sat. Erela walked out of the bathroom, her face looking normal.

"Hey," she said to Nate. Nate smiled and nodded.

"Hi," he said. Nate stood up, as did Ricky.

"We all ready?" Ricky asked. The others nodded. They walked over to the arena.

The group entered the arena, the two remaining cultists stood beside Allistair in the arena. Ricky and Erela stood next to Allistair as Nate walked to the balcony. "It's time for the next fights!" Allistair shouted. "We will be having the next two tiers today! This will be the first tier today!" The sign changed.

-Exzera vs. Ricky

-Erela vs. Darius

"Now! Everyone go to your balconies except for the first two fighters!" Allistair shouted. This was done as Allistair teleported to his balcony.

Ricky stood before Exzera. Exzera stood, calmly, putting his fists up. Ricky didn't draw his sword but, instead, put his fists up too. He realised fighting with a sword wouldn't help as blocking wouldn't be as easy. "FIGHT!" Allistair shouted. Exzera ran up to Ricky and punched at his face. Ricky grabbed Exzera's hand, and then wrenched his arm behind his back. He quickly kicked Exzera in the back of the legs, taking him straight down. Exzera got back up an quick as he could and threw a kick at Ricky. He blocked, swept at Exzera's leg and made him fall. What should he do from here? He couldn't kill him, Exzera was a kid, about twelve. Ricky picked Exzera up. He looked okay, not hurt much at all. Exzera headbutted Ricky in the face. Ricky dropped Exzera. Exzera then punched Ricky in the face and then in the stomach. Exzera pulled out a sword and lunged at Ricky. Ricky took the hit in the side. Ricky yelled out in pain. Ricky pulled out his sword and swung at Exzera. It sliced his stomach. Exzera dropped his sword and grasped his stomach. "Stop!" Exzera whispered. Ricky stood still. Exzera was shaking.

"You forfeit?" Ricky asked. Exzera nodded. Ricky sheathed his blade. Exzera walked out of the arena.

"Ricky wins!" Allistair shouted, a hint of disappointment in his voice. The audience started booing. Ricky shook his head and walked to the balcony. Erela looked at Ricky and smiled. "Well done," she said. Ricky nodded. "I'm next, against Darius."

"Good luck," he said. She nodded and walked to the arena. Darius did the same. Nate looked at Ricky.

"You realise, if Erela wins, you fight her next round?" He asked. Ricky nodded.

"Yeah." Nate nodded back.

"Wish you luck against her," Nate said. Ricky nodded.

"Thanks."

Darius smirked at Erela. Erela looked at Darius' face. She stared sharply at the burnt half of his face. "You're handiwork, this. You stopped me getting to the stronghold before sunrise." Erela smiled.

"You'll get worse this time," Erela said, drawing her blade. Darius pulled out his bow and drew an arrow.

"FIGHT!" Yelled Allistair.

Darius shot his arrow and just missed Erela's leg, almost hitting her knee. Erela charged towards Darius, trying to close the space between them. Darius shot a fully drawn arrow, which hit Erela in her shoulder. Erela stumbled back, but recovered and continued to charge. Erela swung her sword upwards. Darius held the ends of the bow, blocking the swing. He then smashed his bow into Erela, knocking her back, and also breaking the bow. Nate threw the broken bow around and drew his blade. Erela, who was knocked onto the ground, got up. She attempted to disarm him. She hit her sword against his and forced it to the ground. As usual, she stomped on the sword and went to elbow him. Darius let go of his sword and quickly punched Erela in the stomach. He then grabbed her, put his leg behind hers, and forced her to the ground. Darius kept striking Erela. Erela endured the beating. Unexpectedly, she grabbed Darius' foot as he went to stamp on her stomach, and then tripped him over. Erela grabbed the closest sword to her and swung it down on Darius. The blade nearly sliced his head off. It didn't cut through enough, but did, of course, kill Darius. The audience boo'd, as per usual to any resistance victory. Erela stayed at the arena.

"Ricky! Enter the arena!" Allistair shouted. Ricky did as he was told. Erela smiled at Ricky. He nodded.

"We're fighting then?" Erela nodded.

"Unless you want to forfeit," Erela said. Ricky shook his head. She smiled.

"I never got to spar or fight with you, this is a good chance." Ricky said. He drew his sword. Erela looked at her sword. She picked up Darius' blade and put it away. She got ready. "This comes without saying, but no killing each other," Erela said. He nodded.

"FIGHT!"

*NOTICE

I know, I haven't updated for a while, but I have been sidetracked and I've been on holiday too. It's very enjoying writing, and I realise, I need to update much more. This comes without saying, but soon, this story will end, and when it does, I intend to write a new fan fiction. I am stuck between ideas so I'd like everyone's help. Which should I write? I have an urge to write either, a Kingdom Hearts, Walking Dead, Pokemon, Elder Scroll or Fallout story. If you want a say in which I should write next, then put a suggestion in the reviews. It doesn't have to be any of the ones mentioned either. So, thanks for reading, apologies for the wait and I hope you suggest what I should write next! See you next chapter!


	16. Chapter 16: Win some, Lose some

*NOTICE

Before I even start writing this chapter, I need to apologize. It's been too long since I updated. From now on, I would like to update as often as possible. If you want to know why I haven't been on for so long, I genuinely don't know myself. It's not exams as they've only just started cropping up, it's not other obligations, I have no excuse for my long absence. Anyways, I hope all my readers forgive me, I intend to update more frequently. I also just realised my paragraphs aren't being clearly split, so I'll start indenting my paragraphs so it's a lot easier to understand. I am also aware of the drop in quality of recent chapters, so I intend to do better in terms of quality. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and continue to show support.

Chapter 16: Win some, lose some.

"FIGHT!"

Erela was the first to move, she began by swinging her sword at Ricky. Ricky blocked and retaliated with a lunge, getting closer to Erela, he grabbed her and pushed her to the floor. The audience, who were cheering at what first seemed to be an epic fight against lovers, slowly went silent. They began to realise that they weren't going to see a real fight, but rather, just waiting for either one of the fighters to submit. Erela noticed this and laughed a little. Ricky did the same. At this point, Allistair seemed to be getting frustrated, "Stop messing around and fight!" Ricky looked at Erela. Erela just looked up at Allistair.

"You'd be disappointed if one of us were to drop out now, wouldn't you?" Erela asked. Allistair froze for a second. He tried to speak but he couldn't. Erela smiled. She looked at Ricky and took a few swings at him. Ricky blocked and took a swing, to be blocked by Erela. It was exactly like sparring, and it was only fuelling Allistair's rage. After a while, the two of them stopped to look at Allistair, only to find that he had walked off. The two found themselves chuckling. Allistair walked through an entry to the arena and pulled out a diamond sword and pointed it at Erela. "Fight or forfeit, or I choose the winner myself..." Allistair said. Erela's face went serious and looked at Ricky. She smiled again. "I forfeit." Allistair threw his sword too the floor. The crowds shouted vulgar slander at Erela and Ricky. Allistair pointed at the arena exit. "Leave now. We continue tomorrow." Ricky nodded.

Ricky and Erela went to their hotel room, and Nate went to his. After a few moments of silence, Erela began to laugh. "That was amazing," she said. Ricky smiled. "It was," he hugged Erela, "We really annoyed him." Erela's smile dropped.

"You've got to fight Allistair next," Erela said. Ricky nodded.

"Yeah."

"Do you think you'll win?" Erela asked. Ricky hesitated before saying,

"I don't want to jinx anything." Erela hugged him harder. "Don't worry," he said. Erela nodded. She looked at him and slowly closed in. She kissed Ricky. Ricky held Erela close. "I won't."

Ricky woke up holding Erela. "Hey, wake up," a voice said. Ricky turned around and saw Nate sitting on a chair.

"Oh, hey Nate," Ricky said. He shook Erela. "I think it's time to wake up," he said. Erela woke up. She looked at Ricky and smiled. Ricky smiled back. The group left the hotel and entered the arena. Allistair was stood in the middle of the arena. "All of you get up to the balcony." Erela, Nate and Ricky froze. "Now." The group started walking to the Balcony. "Not you Ricky," Allistair said. "We've got a fight." Allistair took off his robe to show a full suit of diamond armour except for a helmet. It had a purple glow to it. As did his sword. Allistair smiled twistedly. "Come at me!" Ricky stood still, not sure whether to go or not. Allistair paced towards Ricky and sliced at him. Ricky blocked and a flame emerged from Allistair's blade. Ricky looked at it. "Fire aspect," Allistair said smugly. The audience began to cheer. Erela and Nate was spectating from the resistance balcony. Erela shivered a bit. Allistair lunged in and swung his sword. Ricky jumped back and got his arm caught by the blade. Ricky's arm was set ablaze. "Ah! God!" Ricky flailed his arm trying to put the flame out. Allistair found himself laughing. Ricky put the flame out and charged at Allistair. He swung full-on at Allistair. He tried to block, but failed, and got hit in the side. Ricky expected the blade to damage the armour, but it just bounced off, as if it did nothing. "Protection enchantment," Allistair whispered, grabbing Ricky and holding him in place. "Bit off more than you can chew, haven't you?" Allistair whispered. He smirked and thrusted his blade into Ricky's stomach. Erela leant over the balcony and shouted

"No!" Ricky felt a burning sensation in his wound. He looked down, only to see that he was being set alight. Ricky kept stabbing Allistair's chest. Allistair continued to laugh until Ricky was fully alight. Allistair's chestplate crumbled. Ricky was about to stab again, but he couldn't move. He was too weak. Allistair removed his blade from Ricky's stomach. Ricky collapsed onto the floor, the flames instantly being extinguished. Erela continued shouting, "No! NO!" Tears started to run from her eyes. Nate just stared at Allistair. Nate clenched his fists. "Damn," he whispered.

Nate walked down to the arena and stomped towards Allistair. "Ass!" He hooked Allistair. He took it and smiled. The crowd continued to cheer.

"You want to die?" Allistair asked. He smashed his elbow into Nate's stomach, and promptly punched him in the face. Nate fell to the floor. Allistair prepared to stab Nate. Erela looked at what was happening. She ran to the arena "Stop!" She shouted, tears streaming down her face. Allistair looked at her. He smiled.

"You want to fight as well?" He asked mockingly. Erela shook her head,

"No, just bring Ricky back!" She shouted. Allistair laughed. The audience did the same.

"I tell you what, you've dealt with us enough to know we stick to our word, so here's a deal. Fight me tomorrow. If you win, I'll resurrect Ricky. If I win, I'm going to kill you and Nate." Erela looked at Nate, who was getting back on his feet. He looked at Allistair.

"What about you just kill me if she loses?" Nate said, holding himself up against a wall. Allistair laughed.

"Hell no," he looked at Erela. "Same offer." She shivered and looked at Nate.

"Don't worry about me, if you want to risk your life to save him, do it." Erela just looked at him.

"I can't just use your life like that!" Erela shouted. Nate smiled.

"Yes you can, if you're prepared to take the deal, do it." He looked at Erela. "Now." Erela shivered.

"And to make it fair for both of us, I'll just use unenchanted gear, though even then, I think I'll win." Erela didn't respond. Allistair smiled. "I'll give you until tomorrow morning." Allistair teleported away. Erela looked at Nate. She began to shiver and tears ran down her face. Nate looked at her and then dropped his head apologetically. Erela just turned around and walked to the hotel.

Erela sat on her bed. She put her head down and began to cry. She whispered to herself. "What do I do?" She looked to her side, expecting to see Ricky, but didn't. She just shook her head. Did she really want to put Nate's life at risk to try and get Ricky back? She laid down and closed her eyes.  



	17. Chapter 17: All or Nothing

Chapter 17: All or Nothing.

Erela entered the arena with Nate following behind. As she entered, Allistair stood in the middle, clad in unenchanted diamond armour. Erela looked through her inventory and equipped herself with the same. Allistair smirked. "I guess you're taking up my challenge?" He asked. Erela shook her head.

"No. You're going to change it. If I lose, only I die. You keep Nate alive, and you let him leave alive too." Allistair smiled.

"And what makes you think I'm going to agree to that?"

"Nothing does. I'm not even sure you will agree, but it's worth a try." Allistair chuckled.

"Fine, since you seem to be so dedicated to protecting your allies, I'll oblige." Erela nodded. She drew her diamond sword. Allistair did the same. He looked closely at Erela's sword, and noticed a purple glint. "You're using enchanted equipment!" He shouted. Erela nodded.

"You said you weren't using enchanted gear. Nothing was said about me. Still, don't worry, it's just a bit of sharpness and knockback." Allistair shook his head and readied himslef. He had a look of determination and confidence on his face. Erela prepared herself. Allistair was first to attack. He ran in and swung his sword at Erela. Erela blocked and countered, and knocked Allistair back quite a distance. Allistair ran back and lunged Erela jumped aside and swung at the back at Allistair's legs. The crowd remained silent, hoping that their leader would recover and defeat Erela. Allistair got up and swung at Erela. Erela stepped back. It was a pathetic attack. Allistair rose and pulled out a bow. He shot an arrow at Erela. She blocked and tried to get close. Knocking him back wouldn't help as much, he'd just deal damage from afar. Erela changed her sword to a non-enchanted iron sword. She charged at Allistair and swung her sword down at Allistair. He stuck his bow in the air and blocked, only to have the bow shattered in half. Erela switched swords again to her enchanted diamond. She punched Allistair in the face before striking him hard in the chest. Allistair fell to the floor, in a coughing fit. "Just forfeit Allistair, and revive Ricky." Allistair shook his head, refusing to be defeated. Erela grabbed Allistair and slammed him against the wall of the arena. "NOW!" She shouted. Allistair shivered on the floor. He slowly rose again and nodded.

"God damn, I'm a 50 year old man, I can't do with this for too long." He looked at Erela. She looked at him disgusted. He was so full of himself yesterday, but had now been degraded to a battered old man. "Don't act so confident in the future. There's always someone bigger and badder," she said. Allistair nodded.

The three of them left the arena to escape the booing of the crowds. Allistair looked at them. "Come with me, we're going to the morgue. We keep all the dead bodies there, just in case we need to revive them, though we have abided to our offer and burnt Darius', Zuriel's, Lystra's and Xavier's bodies." Erela shook her head. There was no way to get Xavier back. They eventually arrived. The journey was silent. No one spoke. After arriving, Allistair walked away and returned with two cultists, dragging Ricky's body behind them. They placed him on a table and Allistair held his hands out, above Ricky. Purple particles began to orbit his hands, turning them black, similar to those of endermen. He placed them on Ricky. Purple particles began to surround Ricky, as he slowly dissolved. Erela watched in horror. "What the hell are you doing?" She shouted, walking towards him ready to hit him. "You were sup-" Nate grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Calm down, he's holding his end of the deal." Eventually, Ricky had disappeared. Allistair looked at Erela.

"He's sorted." Erela looked at him hesitantly. Allistair smiled. "He's back at your little settlement, I'd go get to him." Erela glared at Allistair and turned to walk out of the morgue with Nate. Two cultists were leant against the door frame of the morgue, blocking them. "But not until you give us your Eyes of Ender." Allistair drew a sword, so did the cultists. Nate drew his sword. "Not part of the deal, Allistair, tell them to back down." Allistair smirked and shook his head.

"Not a chance. We've got the upper hand this time. Meet our replacements for the top two cultists, our new Zuriel and Lystra." One of them lifted their hood.

"I'm Garth." The other one did the same.

"I'm Gareth." They looked at Erela and Nate. Allistair smiled.

"They're twins. They've got about the same amount of skill as Zuriel, and there's two of them." He smirked. "And we are holding up the deal, we officially won. You owe us seven eyes."

Erela looked at them. She grabbed Gareth and pinned him against a wall. She put a diamond sword to his throat. "Let us go now. I'll kill him if you don't." Allistair chuckled.

"You've already forgotten that I can revive people?" Erela shook her head.

"I remember that well, I also remember that you revive people in the state they died. Ricky only had a slash on his torso. We can easily heal him, I'm guessing people are already on that, but this one, I'll shred his body, I'll be sure to put him in a state where he can't be revived." Allistair hesitated for a second. Gareth chuckled. "They've figured it out. I say we let 'em go Al, I'm sure you don't want to lose your best this early." Allistair looked at Erela.

"Four eyes, then we'll let you go. it'll raise us to nine, and you'll still have a decent amount, with three, and I won't mind if you continue to 'resist,' if you will." Erela looked at Nate. She was right, Allistair didn't know that they had around 17 eyes. They needed as many as they could get to find the stronghold. To give The cult four eyes would leave them with three eyes left to open the portal. She sighed. "Fine, four eyes." She pulled four eyes out and held them to Allistair. He took them.

"Garth, Gareth, kindly escort them out of Aleira." They nodded and walked towards the hotel where they got their things. Erela got Ricky's and left the hotel with Nate. After being effectively kicked out, they began to walk back to their home. This took them about a full day. The place was unscathed. They entered, to find Derek run up to the gate. "God! It's Ricky! He warped here and he's in bad shape. I need your help!" Erela nodded.

"Take me to him, please." Derek nodded and led her and Nate to Ricky.

Erela sat next to Ricky. She looked at Nate. "Hey, do you think you could look around the base and see if anyone knows where we can get a brewing stand, Nether Wart, and a glistering melon?" Nate nodded. Derek looked at her.

"A healing potion won't do enough!" He shouted. Erela looked at him.

"I know it won't, but it'll be a good enough start. I honestly thought this'd be easier to heal." She took Ricky's shirt off to look at the wound. She could see the burn marks the slash had made. "I don't know what to do about the burn, would a fire resistance do anything?" she asked. Derek paused thinking. Ricky slowly opened his eyes and looked at Erela. She looked at him and smiled. She got up and knelt next to the bed Ricky was laying and grabbed his hand. "Oh my god..." She said happily, a tear running down her cheek. "Are you okay?" She asked. He smiled and nodded.

"Just a horrible burning sensation. I imagine a fire resistance potion would be enough to ease the pain. Did Nate survive, what happened?" Erela smiled, wiping the tears from her eyes. "He did, he's gone to get some stuff for a healing potion. I had to fight Allistair to bring you back. We won, and we've found out who his new top men are." He smiled.

"And the eyes?" Her face dropped.

"We had to give up four eyes." She suddenly felt guilty. Ricky held her hand.

"Don't worry about it, at least we're all alive." She nodded.

Nate entered, holding two potions. "Someone at the brewing lab suggested a fire resistance potion to ease the burning pain, and a general health potion, and then he should be fine to heal naturally." Erela got up and took the potions from Nate. She hugged him.

"Thank you," she whispered to him. Nate hesitated.

"Why are you hugging me?" Erela let him go.

"You helped me so much, would you rather I wouldn't?" Nate looked at Ricky, who was smiling at him.

"I was... No... I mean..." Nate started stuttering, out of nerves. Erela just laughed and Ricky smiled. Erela gave Ricky the potions. He drank them both. The burn damage disappeared, and the wound healed generally, better than they expected. Ricky got out of bed, able to do so. He looked at his shirt that Erela removed. "Think we can do anything about that?" He asked. Derek laughed.

"We expected some damage, so we got all of you new clothes, just in case." He looked at Nate. "And the Cultist attire makes you look like a sore thumb." Nate nodded. Erela left with Derek.

Ricky looked at Nate. "Thanks for helping her," Ricky said, smiling. Nate nodded. Ricky chuckled slightly. "You're reaction to Erela hugging you." He laughed some more. Nate looked at Ricky. "I'm guessing you've just figured how I feel about her?" He asked. Ricky nodded.

"I think she knows now, but we won't think any different of you, you're entitled to your own feelings." Nate nodded smiling slightly.

"Thanks," he whispered.

Erela entered the room, in new attire, which looked no different to her old one. "Get changed boys," she said, handing them their clothes. She walked outside as they changed. Ricky's clothing was no different, but Nate now wore a red shirt, with a black coat over it. Erela walked in and looked at Ricky, then Nate. "Good," she said, "we've got some stuff to do."

*NOTICE

Okay, to make up for my updates being so irregular, I made a big-ish chapter. Just so you guys know, I have made a new forum relating to this story, and any future stories. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and, as always, please leave me some constructive criticism in the reviews. Any is appreciated. For those curious, I'm still getting to setting up the forum, but I'm starting to do so now, I just need to do some planning as to categories and stuff. The forum should be at a decent state by the time the next chapter comes out. Bye all!

Link to the Forum: forum/The-Cult-of-the-Ender/126392/

(I don't think including the link is infinging on any rules, but if it is, I'll kindly remove it. 


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